Key points
- A record 17,088 applications have been received for 2024 entry to selective schools.
- Fees for selective school test preparation courses by tutors range from $700 to $1200 for 10 weeks of classes.
- There are concerns the multimillion-dollar tutoring industry is selling the possibility of a selective school place.
Parents are spending thousands of dollars on specialised tutoring for their children ahead of the fiercely competitive selective school test, despite an overhaul to the exam that was designed to make it less coachable.
A record 17,088 applications have been received for 2024 entry to selective schools – up by 9 per cent from last year. Just 4248 of these students will receive a place.
Akshaj Mittal got into Baulkham Hills High.Credit:Jessica Hromas
It is also the second year a new equity system has been in force, where 20 per cent of places at selective schools will be set aside for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“The changes to the test have made the competition more cutthroat,” said Mohan Dhall, chief executive of the Australian Tutoring Association. “Demand is rising despite the test becoming harder, and ‘thinking skills’ components were introduced that made it more resistant to coaching.”
Fees for selective school test preparation courses by tutors range from $700 to $1200 for 10 weeks of classes. Some offer courses that run over 45 weeks, and Dhall said many parents would enrol their children in up to two years of coaching for the test.
An updated selective schools entry test was introduced in 2021 after a review found the exams were too easy. A new thinking skills component replaced the general ability section, a move designed to test students in creative and critical skills.
“Most coaching colleges have assembled resources in an attempt to replicate the thinking skills component of the exam, but many have failed to create novel items which help their customers understand how to critique,” Dhall said.
“This makes those children vulnerable to shock when confronted with the actual test.”
One major concern is the multimillion-dollar tutoring industry is selling the possibility of a selective school place, but there is no transparency on how many of those students receive a spot, he said.
Pre Uni New College, which has more than 20 branches in NSW, claims students coached at their colleges received more than 800 offers to selective schools in 2021. Another centre, Edu Vision, says it had 200 students score a place last year.
A former James Ruse Agricultural High student, Carl Cai, said he set up an “online tutoring platform” that charges $60 for 60 past papers to give students a cheaper tutoring option.
But the owner of Mr Tim’s Classroom tutoring college, Timothy Ricketts, said while he was a qualified and experienced teacher, many tutoring colleges were hiring university students and using outdated material.
“The whole industry is a bit of a nightmare, there are no control mechanisms, there is a lot of dodgy, not up-to-date material being used out there,” he said.
In NSW there is no government regulation for the tutoring industry providing preparation for selective school testing.
The NSW government and the opposition have promised to expand selective schools, with western and south-western Sydney the target. The state government announced plans for a new selective school at Westmead is set to enrol 2000 students, while another school at Leppington is in the planning stages. Labor has matched these commitments.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the government “understands that parents are aspirational for their children and that there is strong demand for selective high school places”.
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said most students were using practice tests from the department’s website. “A recent survey of parents of students who gained entry to selective classes suggests that only 20 per cent took part in coaching classes, and 10 per cent did no preparation at all for the tests,” they said.
Roslyn Wolfers, who runs Swot Shop coaching, said her college asks students to sit a test before being accepted.
“Having been involved in teaching gifted students for 30 years now, I am very concerned about the view held by many parents that admission to a selective school is far more important than winning the lottery.”
Associate Professor Jae Jung, from UNSW’s school of education and a researcher in gifted education, said it is a myth that students need to be tutored to get a place.
“We need more information about what the specific benefits of tutoring are, and this is an area on which greater research is necessary.”
Neeru Garg from Kellyville sent her son Akshaj Mittal, 11, to tutoring for six hours a week last year because she wanted him to get into a selective school.
“I am an Indian parent. In my circle, a few of my friends have children in selective schools, they told me it was a good option,” she said.
He got into Baulkham Hills High, where the entry score is second only to James Ruse Agricultural High.
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