We are writing to express our concern regarding the recent decision by the NSW Department of Education to allow students who sat the Selective High School and Opportunity Class (OC) placement tests on Friday, 2 May 2025, at the Randwick, Canterbury, and Sydney Olympic Park testing centres to resit the exam AND have their higher mark place them.

While we appreciate the department’s acknowledgment of the challenges faced by students and families at these centres and the effort to address these issues, we believe this approach raises significant fairness concerns for the broader cohort of students participating in this highly competitive process.

The OC & Selective High School placement process is designed to ensure that all students compete on an equal footing for limited spots. By allowing a subset of students two attempts AND the better of their two attempts place them, these individuals are provided with an advantage not afforded to the rest of the applicant pool. The opportunity to sit the test twice—albeit under unique circumstances—allows for increased familiarity with the testing format, reduced anxiety in the second sitting, and the potential for improved performance. Despite those perceived advantages, we understand that it is fair to allow those students who experience significant difficulties on the 2nd May an opportunity to resit in a better environment.

We understand that a common argument from parents whose child did unfortunately sit the test under extenuating circumstances is that those who didn’t have an extra two weeks to study and prepare. We would like to point out that the children who are offered the resits are also given “an extra two weeks” to study and prepare with an extra advantage of having seen the perfect past paper.

The decision allowing two attempts to place a child creates an uneven field, as the remaining students will only be given one opportunity to sit the exam. If fairness is truly the department’s priority, all students should be granted the option to resit the test if they choose. This would ensure that every applicant is treated equitably and has the same opportunity to perform to the best of their ability.

We urge the department to reconsider its approach and explore alternative solutions that maintain fairness for every student involved in the OC & Selective High School placement process. This could include offering all students the opportunity to resit the test or implementing other measures to ensure that no group is unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.

Thank you for considering this important matter. We trust that the department will take the necessary steps to ensure that the integrity of the OC/ Selective High School placement process is upheld.

Update (post all exams)

We are expressing additional concernst that despite assurances from the DoE of fairness in testing, it has come to light that students who resat their test were given identical questions from their first attempt. The questions that were repeated appeared in several categories of tests. We are requesting scaling of the duplicates to remove the advantage of being tested on repeated questions.

Update (9 June 2025)

We acknowledge and are thankful for the independent review currently taking place. We would like this review to take into considerations changes to be implemented THIS year.

Considering need to be made end of July 2025, we offer the below realistic and viable suggestions in order of preference of how THIS year's assessments can be made for a more equitable placement offers.

1) Align the mean of the results from the children with two attempts with that of the cohort that only had one attempt to place all children.2) Remove the duplicate questions in an individual's second attempt, scale their result accordingly and use that child's last attempt to place them
3) Treat each cohort separately and offer pro rata-ed number of places for each cohort.