Conducted by the High Performing Students Unit at NSW Schools Department of Education, The Opportunity Test (O.C. Test) is designed to measure ability in English and mathematics at a high level in Year 4 students wishing to enter a Year 5 O.C. class.
The SSE, known for its ability to teach and assess students at the highest levels of discrimination, providing specifically targeted programs:
•Trial Tests for the OC Test
•Intensive Vocabulary for General Ability in the OC Test
•Intensive Comprehension for the OC Test
Moreover, the weekly Writing, Vocabulary and Comprehension classes provide students with extensive reading comprehension skills. The writing component provides students with a wide
vocabulary and a deeper understanding of the processes behind a text.
The students use high level language techniques in their own writing. This is why these students, using the techniques themselves, find it much easier to recognise these in the writing of others.
Consequently, the SSE students find it considerably easier to answer test questions involving such things as inference, reading relationship cues, and identifying high level language features, than those who have merely practiced test questions without any real level of understanding or success.
Also, it is a fact that the General Ability component of the test is becoming increasingly English based, involving mainly vocabulary questions. The SSE’s weekly classes incorporate vocabulary into every lesson.
It is generally known that the schoolteacher grades a student as part of their final O.C. score. But what is not commonly understood is that a teacher cannot seriously recommend that a child be considered a suitable candidate for OC if s/he cannot write or display mastery of English, particularly writing, at a superior level.
An end of term assessment and report are provided.