‘Your child cannot receive an offer’: Parents pay for selective school predictions

A major Sydney coaching college is ranking children to advise parents on which selective schools they should choose on preference forms, a practice education analysts warn is misleading and fuelling anxiety among students.

Tutoring colleges have for years run selective school test preparation courses but are now producing extensive reports telling parents which schools to apply for and predicting specific questions in next year’s exams.

One private college conducted a mock selective exam for 3180 primary school students earlier this year, charging $90 a head to participate – earning $286,000 in a day.

James Ruse has typically been the hardest school to gain entry to.Credit: Jessica Hromas

Mock exam results ranked a child’s performance among the cohort and used a traffic light system to indicate if they were likely to gain entry to the selective system.

The tutoring college categorised students as “teetering on the edge” of receiving an offer, or likely to “comfortably” gain entry. Another outcome said: with the “current result, your child cannot receive an offer”.

“Attaining an offer is possible but competition is fierce, so continuous effort is essential,” one report stated.

University of Technology Sydney social scientist Christina Ho, who researches selective schools, said ranking students via mock exams created an environment likely to fuel anxiety in parents and students in an already fiercely competitive system.

“It’s also indicative of the level of commercialisation that has infused the entire process of selective school admission. It’s scary,” she said.

“It’s a commercial activity that drives enrolments. It is essentially drumming up business for the colleges.”

Demand for entry into the state’s prized academically selective public schools is rising every year: a record 18,500 students competed for about 4200 spots in 2025. About 14,000 students did not make the cut.

Parents received their results on Friday, four days after 100 parents hacked a government website and gained “unauthorised access” to their child’s results. The NSW Education Department is investigating the incident.

Changes to the test in recent years include the introduction of a thinking skills component to make the test less “coachable”, while 20 per cent of seats are now reserved for students from equity cohorts.

Some families spend up to $20,000 a year on tutoring, while others use selective school offers as “bargaining chips” to secure private school scholarship offers.

Some parents this week turned to social media to express frustration over the department’s decision to stop publishing cut-off scores for entry, while others say their child’s experience with coaching provided much-needed discipline, practice “in learning the basics” and went beyond what was provided in the state’s public primary schools.

Parents must select three schools as their top preferences when applying for entry to the selective system. Baulkham Hills High is the most popular first-choice school for students vying for 2025 spots.

Ho said colleges that run large-scale mock exams, often at arenas at Sydney Olympic Park, were examples of how the booming multimillion industry preyed on parents’ anxieties.

“The way mock exam results are given to parents is misleading as the information is presented in a way that implies that there is precision in calculating outcomes. It also makes it look official. Many more students sit the selective schools test than the mock exam,” she said.

“The exclusive focus on selective test practice and giving advice on school selection is something entirely different to tutoring for students who may have gaps in their learning.”

The coaching industry has grown substantially in the past two decades and is almost entirely unregulated.

Australian Tutoring Association chief executive Mohan Dhall said some colleges were exploiting the vulnerability of parents.

“Suggesting placement in selective schools can also lead to parents making decisions that could be detrimental to their child. It can also undermine parent choice,” he said.

Pre Uni New College, which runs the large-scale mock exam for year 6 students, known as ASAT, says on its website that its reports provide “individualised analysis” of a child’s performance and highlight strengths and weaknesses in specific subject areas and question types.

“You’ll receive the comprehensive outcome reports, showing how your child’s performance measures up against other students, offering practical suggestions for selective school choices,” their website says. The college was contacted for comment.

Dhall said there were questions about whether the way the information was presented to parents could be misleading. “And if that is intended to create enrolment in future courses through amplifying competitive practices.”

The reports include a disclaimer that there was “not a guarantee” of securing an offer.

The NSW Education Department said it had no plans to survey parents about whether they were tutored for entry to selective schools.

A spokesperson said parents should only rely on the information provided by the department on its website about the selection process and the test.

“Information provided by external providers can be inaccurate. We encourage parents and students to use the free practice materials on the department’s website to support a student’s understanding and preparation for the placement tests.”

“The new selective high school and opportunity class placement tests have been designed to be less coachable and assess problem-solving and thinking skills. They are not as easy to prepare for as the previous test design.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.