2. Selective high schools and Opportunity classes cater for gifted and talented students who are intellectually superior and who perform to a very high standard in class.

3. learns rapidlyexcellent memoryindependent creative or imaginativesense of humour highly motivatedadvanced interestsquestions critical thinkersocially and morally responsible superior leaderadvanced vocabdraws inferences advanced reader

4. Scores required minimum 180 plus Entry scores for 2016 Girraween 210 James Ruse 239 Penrith 200 Baulkham Hills 231 Parramatta 192 Blacktown Boys 182 Blacktown Girls 179

5. 46 selective high schools throughout the state 17 fully selective 24 partial selective 4 boarding schools 1 virtual high school 33 are in the Sydney metro area

6. Mark out of 300 – combination of school and test scores Schools have their own assessment policies School assessment scores measure performance or talent Test centre scores measure ability, potential or giftedness

7. School Test English /Writing 5050 2/3 reading 1/3writing Mathematics5050 General Ability100 Totalling 300

8. Generic testing across whole stage English and mathematics testing in weeks 2 and 9 of every term Writing assessments in terms 2 and 3

9. Application packages available early November Testing Thursday 9 th March 2017 Selection panels meet in May/June Outcomes sent via mail or email in July

10. One place offered to every 6 applications No list of school ranking

11. Students sit a placement test in: English (Reading) mathematics general ability Students are also given a school assessment score for: English mathematics

12. Schools are asked to rank their candidates in order of merit from highest to lowest showing the relative gaps between the students for English and mathematics. They have the discretion to use any assessments they consider appropriate to derive those scores. They are asked to show their ranking as a set of scores out of 100.

13. English out of 100 Mathematics out of 100 English out of 20 Mathematics out of 20 General ability out of 30

14. Application packages available late April, 2016 Applications close 13 May, 2016 Test authority e-mail 13 July, 2016 Testing Wednesday 27 July, 2016 Placement outcome information to parents mid October, 2016

15. Additional information if required http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/shsplacement