Why is there no score?

The Department says past reporting of scores affected student privacy and wellbeing, and that the test has one purpose only: identifying students who will benefit from placement. Scores and placement ranks are not available.

Does top 10% mean my child scored 90%?

No. A band shows how your child ranks against everyone else who took the test. It is not the share of questions answered correctly.

Is the lowest 50% a fail?

No. There is no pass or fail mark. By design, half of all students land in the lowest 50% band for every section.

What score do we need for a school?

There is no published minimum. The level needed depends on how many students apply and how they perform, the places available and how many offers are declined.

Should we show the report to our child?

That is your decision. The Department suggests parents consider whether and how to share it, and make clear that the result says little about how a child is doing at school.

Reading the Selective Student Performance Report

Checked 19 October 2026 by XReady

A report sheet with a bell curve under a paperweight in warm amber light.

In short

For every section, the performance report puts your child in one of four bands: top 10%, next 15%, next 25% or lowest 50%. No score or rank is shown. Being in the top band does not mean answering 90 per cent correctly.

Once outcomes are out, the Student Performance Report sits in your application dashboard. It is laid out differently from a school report, so this page walks through it.

Four sections, each in one of four bands

Each of the four sections gets its own band, so the report shows four results in all. In every section your child is ranked against every other candidate that year (external link), and placed in one of these bands:

the top 10% of candidates
the next 15%
the next 25%
the lowest 50%

The four sections are Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, Thinking Skills and Writing, so you will see one band for each of them. The section details are in the test format guide.

How the bands are worked out

The Department explains that candidates are lined up in order for each section. With 15,000 candidates, about 1,500 would make up the top 10% of one section (external link). Half of everyone must end up in the lowest band, so that band is just a position, not a fail.

Nothing on the report gives a percentage of questions answered correctly, an individual score or a placement rank.

Why there are no cut-offs

No minimum entry mark exists for any school (external link). Whether an offer is made hinges on how many families apply, how candidates compare with each other, how many seats a school has, and how many offers are turned down. This is why the report cannot say whether a child came close. If you meet a website claiming a cut-off, be sceptical.

What the test measures

The Department designed the questions to spot children who would gain from a selective placement. They do not measure the school curriculum (external link), which means the result tells you little about how your child is going in class. Roughly a quarter of candidates win a selective place (external link), and for many it is their first formal test.

Talking with your child about the report

Decide beforehand whether to show the report at all, and who reads it first.
Begin with thanks for sitting a long and unfamiliar test.
Be honest that nobody passes or fails and that seats are scarce.
Talk about the test, not about what kind of child they are.
Keep siblings and friends out of the conversation.
Make room for disappointment before suggesting what comes next.

Reserve lists and what the bands cannot tell you

A child can be placed on a reserve list for a school higher on your list. The Department then shows a reserve band, A to F (external link), as an estimate of when an offer might come, based on how families declined offers the year before. Bands A to E point to an offer by the end of September, October, November, December or January, and band F means an offer is unlikely. These are estimates only, and the reserve bands are a different thing from the performance bands. Offers from a reserve list can continue until the end of Term 1 of the entry year if vacancies arise.

Next steps

Read the outcome in the dashboard slowly. If your child holds a reserve position, note the reserve decision date and how reserve lists operate. If you suspect a mistake, the appeals window is short (external link). The parent FAQ and the Selective test explained cover the wider process. XReady's free Selective sample papers stay open if your child enjoys practising.

Checked 19 October 2026 against the NSW Department of Education outcomes page.

Common questions

Why is there no score?: The Department says past reporting of scores affected student privacy and wellbeing, and that the test has one purpose only: identifying students who will benefit from placement. Scores and placement ranks are not available.
Does top 10% mean my child scored 90%?: No. A band shows how your child ranks against everyone else who took the test. It is not the share of questions answered correctly.
Is the lowest 50% a fail?: No. There is no pass or fail mark. By design, half of all students land in the lowest 50% band for every section.
What score do we need for a school?: There is no published minimum. The level needed depends on how many students apply and how they perform, the places available and how many offers are declined.
Should we show the report to our child?: That is your decision. The Department suggests parents consider whether and how to share it, and make clear that the result says little about how a child is doing at school.

Sources, checked 19 October 2026

NSW Department of Education: Outcomes (external link) NSW Department of Education. Checked 19 October 2026.
NSW Department of Education: Selective high school Year 7 reserve list bands (external link) NSW Department of Education. Checked 19 October 2026.

Not affiliated with ACARA or the NSW Department of Education.