Two exams. One preparation stream.
Every door open.
Your Year 5 child is heading into two selection windows: the February 2027 scholarship exams and the NSW Selective High School Placement Test in May 2027. This combined program prepares both in one stream: the full four-class Selective preparation week, plus the Wednesday evening Scholarship Specialisation on Zoom. Same underlying skills, two goals, every door kept open.
Inside the Year 5 Scholarship Specialisation
Year 5 is the year scholarship preparation actually begins.
The February 2027 scholarship window, ACER on 28 February, AAS schools across their three-week window, Sydney Grammar’s own paper, tests students at the start of Year 6. That means the preparation year is Year 5, right now. The Year 5 Scholarship Specialisation is an essential introduction: exam formats, question types, reasoning skills, writing proficiency, and the test strategies that give a Year 5 student a genuine competitive edge.
Each Wednesday session moves through the scholarship exam landscape systematically: exam format mastery across AAS and ACER structures, abstract and verbal reasoning, vocabulary in context, narrative and persuasive writing, reading comprehension strategies, and interview preparation for shortlisted students.
Two selection windows. One set of underlying skills.
The February 2027 scholarship exams and the May 2027 Selective test draw on the same foundations: reading comprehension at depth, mathematical reasoning, structured writing, and thinking under time pressure. Preparing them separately duplicates effort. Preparing them together means every hour of work advances both goals, and your child walks into Year 6 with a private school scholarship attempt in February and the Selective test in May, three months apart, both fully prepared.
The four weekly Selective sessions build the core academic engine: English, Writing, Maths & Thinking Skills, and full weekly trial tests with personalised analysis. The Wednesday Scholarship session adds the layer the Selective stream doesn’t cover: AAS and ACER exam formats, abstract and verbal reasoning shapes, scholarship-specific strategy, and interview preparation for shortlisted students.
For students needing help or facing difficulty in:
Exam Format Mastery
Adapting to unique AAS and ACER exam structures. Balancing knowledge application and problem-solving under time constraints. Enhancing written expression skills: originality, relevance, fluency, and grammar.
Reasoning Skills Development
Improving abstract reasoning: matrices, series, and spatial reasoning. Strengthening verbal reasoning: synonyms, antonyms, and odd-one-out tasks. Expanding vocabulary and its contextual use.
Writing Proficiency
Crafting engaging narratives and responding creatively to open-ended prompts. Developing persuasive writing techniques and argument presentation.
Exam Strategies
Enhancing speed reading while maintaining comprehension. Mastering multiple-choice question approaches, particularly for AAS exams.
Interview Preparation included. For students who reach the shortlist stage: effectively communicating personal values and experiences, and developing articulation and maturity in responses. The interview is where scholarships are finalised, and most students have never done one.
Four sessions per week. All four Selective test components.
The core of the program: the complete Year 5 Selective preparation week, delivered live on the Scholarly Learning Platform with catch-up recordings.
Reading Comprehension
Fiction inference, poetry analysis, non-fiction comprehension, and cloze passages at Selective difficulty. Students learn to identify author’s purpose, distinguish literal from inferential meaning, evaluate arguments, and decode unfamiliar vocabulary using morphemic analysis. All four Selective reading formats practised weekly.
Mathematical Reasoning & Critical Thinking
Advanced word problems, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, algebra, geometry, and data interpretation, all in Selective format: multi-step, language-heavy, with distractors. Thinking Skills: critical reasoning, logical deduction, spatial reasoning, and numerical reasoning across all four pillars.
Narrative & Persuasive Writing
Narrative craft: show don’t tell, sensory detail, dialogue, pacing, and structural sophistication. Persuasive writing: PEEL paragraphs, thesis construction, counterargument, and rhetorical devices. Both modes practised under timed conditions with detailed feedback on every piece.
Full Trial Tests & Personalised Analysis
Weekly full-length Selective-format trial tests under real exam conditions, with personalised sub-topic breakdowns after every test. Error pattern analysis identifies which question types cost marks, while exam stamina builds from 30 minutes to the full test duration.
Stream 2: the Wednesday Scholarship session covers every key component of scholarship exams.
Each 2-hour Wednesday session works through the complete scholarship skill-set, cycling between reasoning drills, writing instruction, comprehension strategy, and exam technique.
Exam formats, question styles, and reasoning skills
Scholarship exams reward familiarity. We train the exact structures AAS and ACER use, and the reasoning question types that decide the top quartile.
- Exam formats and question styles, AAS and ACER structures, timing, section order
- Abstract reasoning, matrices, series, spatial reasoning
- Verbal reasoning, synonyms, antonyms, odd-one-out tasks
- Vocabulary enhancement, contextual use, not word-list rote learning
- Multiple-choice mastery, elimination strategy, particularly for AAS exams
Narrative and persuasive writing, reading comprehension strategies
Written expression is the biggest differentiator in scholarship marking. We build originality, relevance, fluency, and grammatical control across both major writing modes.
- Narrative writing techniques, crafting engaging stories, responding creatively to open-ended prompts
- Persuasive writing techniques, argument presentation, structure, evidence
- Written expression skills, originality, relevance, fluency, and grammar
- Reading comprehension strategies, speed reading while maintaining comprehension
- Effective exam preparation methods, revision routines that actually work for 10-11 year olds
Interview skills for shortlisted students
Scholarship offers are finalised at interview, and most Year 5 students have never done one. We provide guidance on interview skills, helping students confidently express their values and experiences during scholarship interviews.
- Communicating personal values and experiences effectively and naturally
- Developing articulation and maturity in responses
- Common interview questions and how top schools structure their interviews
- Presentation and confidence, first impressions, body language, conversation flow
Popular NSW scholarships for Year 5 students, tested February 2027.
Your Year 5 child sits these tests in February 2027, at the start of Year 6, for Year 7 2028 entry. Sixty-plus NSW private schools award Year 7 scholarships; here are the ones our Year 5 families most often target. Always confirm test dates directly with each school’s admissions office.
| School | Sector | Test provider | Test date 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Grammar School Boys · CAS | Boys | School-specific | Sun 1 Feb (typ.) |
| The King’s School Boys · GPS · Boarding | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Knox Grammar Boys · CAS | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Shore School (SCEGGS) Boys · GPS | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Newington College Boys · GPS | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Trinity Grammar Boys · CAS | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Cranbrook School Boys · AAGPS · GPS | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| The Scots College Boys · GPS · Boarding | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| St Aloysius’ College Boys · CAS | Boys | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Barker College Co-ed · AAGPS | Co-ed | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Pymble Ladies’ College Girls · AHIGS | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Abbotsleigh Girls · AHIGS | Girls | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Ascham School Girls | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| SCEGGS Darlinghurst Girls | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Wenona School Girls | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Ravenswood Girls | Girls | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| MLC School Girls | Girls | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Meriden School Girls | Girls | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Kambala Girls | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Loreto Normanhurst Girls · Boarding | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Tara Anglican Girls | Girls | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Moriah College Co-ed | Co-ed | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Redlands Co-ed | Co-ed | ACER | Sat 28 Feb |
| Reddam House Co-ed | Co-ed | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| Kincoppal-Rose Bay Co-ed (primary) | Co-ed | AAS | 6-28 Feb (window) |
| St Catherine’s Girls | Girls | EduTest | Various Feb |
| Frensham Girls · Boarding | Girls | EduTest | Various Feb |
Important: All dates shown are the February 2027 sittings for Year 7 2028 entry, the round your current Year 5 child is on. Each school sets its own application window and date. Want our full 60-school NSW scholarship calendar? We send it with every enrolment.
The scholarship timeline your Year 5 child is on.
Applications open from late 2026. Testing runs across February 2027. Here are the dates that matter.
Year 5 Scholarship Specialisation runs
Terms 3 and 4, Wednesday 6:00-8:00pm. 20 weeks of exam format mastery, reasoning, writing, comprehension, and strategy.
Scholarship applications open and close
Most ACER and AAS schools open registrations between September and November 2026. Sydney Grammar typically closes earliest (October). Missing an application deadline means missing the scholarship entirely, diarise each target school.
Sydney Grammar scholarship exam (typical)
Sydney Grammar sets and marks its own ~3 hour paper: English (reading comprehension plus 25-minute creative writing) and Mathematics/General Ability. No multiple choice.
AAS school testing window
Pymble, Ascham, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Wenona, Barker, Kambala, Tara, and Loreto Normanhurst each run their own AAS paper inside this window. One paper per school, so multiple applications mean multiple sits.
ACER Cooperative Scholarship Test
One paper, one morning (9am-12pm), 60+ NSW schools including King’s, Knox, Shore, Newington, Cranbrook, Scots, MLC, Ravenswood, Meriden, and Abbotsleigh. One sitting fee (~$140) covers every ACER school you nominate.
Shortlists, interviews, and offers
Schools release results, shortlisted students are invited to interview, and offers follow. This is where the interview preparation component of the course pays off.
Why start in Term 3 2026? Counting back from the February 2027 window, the Semester course delivers 20 weeks of preparation finishing mid-December, leaving January for family revision and rest before test day. Starting later compresses everything.
The messages we receive every scholarship season.
Sydney Grammar. King’s. Shore. Knox. Reddam. Trinity. Every February and March, the WhatsApp and WeChat messages arrive. Here are a few, shared with permission, names blurred for privacy.
Messages shared with parent permission. Student names removed for privacy.
Motivation, expertise, and 360° support.
The High School Advanced Program isn’t just classes. It’s a complete environment of motivation, expert teaching, and wrap-around support that turns capable students into top performers.
Motivation
Challenges & Awards keep momentum high; every milestone earns points, badges, and prizes that actually matter to teens.
Expertise
Top-ATAR graduate tutors model elite thinking and mentor your child beyond the syllabus.
Percentile Reports & Detailed Feedback
Pinpoint gaps fast with rubric-aligned writing feedback and percentile rankings across all subjects.
7-Day Helpline
WhatsApp, WeChat, Scholarly Ask, phone, answers within 24 hours, every day of the week.
Live Sessions, Motivated Cohort
All sessions are live Zoom intensives, designed to be experienced in real time with full focus. No recordings are provided, the live format is part of what makes this course transformative. Enrolment offers a unique chance for your child to develop alongside a cohort of motivated peers, guided by exceptional educators.
What the week looks like
Weekly homework aligned with each class, tracked through the Scholarly Learning Platform. 7-day Success Coach support via WhatsApp and WeChat for questions outside class time.
One stream. Both exams. Every door open.
20 weeks across Term 3 and Term 4. Five classes a week: the complete four-session Selective preparation program plus the two-hour Wednesday Scholarship Specialisation on Zoom. Roughly 100 live sessions covering the NSW Selective test and the AAS, ACER, and school-specific scholarship exams.
- 5 classes per week, ~100 live sessions per semester
- Full Selective stream: English, Maths & Thinking Skills, Writing
- Weekly full-length trial tests with personalised analysis
- Wednesday Scholarship Specialisation, 2-hour live Zoom
- AAS, ACER & school-specific exam formats and strategy
- Interview preparation for shortlisted students
- Weekly homework with detailed feedback
- Catch-up recordings for all Selective sessions
- 7-day Success Coach support
- ⚠ Wednesday Zoom session is not recorded
Common Questions
Give your Year 5 child a competitive edge.
The February 2027 scholarship window is closer than it looks. 20 weeks of essential preparation across exam formats, reasoning, writing, comprehension, and interview skills. Wednesday evenings, live on Zoom.