Guides · Writing
The Selective Test writing section, explained.
Writing is the shortest section of the NSW Selective Test and the least understood: one task, 30 minutes, typed, worth a full 25% of the placement score — equal to Mathematical Reasoning. There is no official topic list and no published rubric. What there is: three official sample prompts, and they're more revealing than most families realise — none of them asks for a story. Here's the format as the Department describes it, what those prompts actually ask for, and ten original practice prompts in the same style.
The format, straight from the Department
Per the Department's practice tests page (updated 20 March 2026, accessed 14 July 2026):
- One task, described as open response — a topic your child "must write about according to the instructions".
- 30 minutes, typed into the test software. You "can brainstorm and make a plan on paper or on screen before typing your response".
- 25% of the placement score — writing carries the same weight as each of the three multiple-choice sections.
- One overall mark, assessing "the creativity of the student's ideas and their ability to write effectively for a purpose and audience", along with text structure, grammar, punctuation, style and vocabulary.
- Off-topic costs marks. The Department says directly that responses failing to address the given topic receive lower marks.
- No dictionaries, and no extra time.
What the Department does not publish matters just as much: there's no topic list, no genre list, no marking rubric and no band descriptors. The sample writing questions ship with no marking guide at all — unlike the multiple-choice sections, which come with full answer keys.
What the three official sample prompts actually ask
The Department has released exactly three sample writing questions — one per sample test. I read all three in full. Every one names a text type, a purpose and an audience.
| Sample | The scenario | The task | What it's really testing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice Test 1 "New to the area" | Three new students have just arrived in your local area. | Write an advice sheet to help them get on well at your school, making them feel enthusiastic about coming. | Writing for a real audience and purpose — organised, useful, warm in tone. Layout and structure are part of the answer. |
| Practice Test 2 "Chaos on the beach" | A shipping container of party supplies has burst open on a beach and crowds have rushed to look. | Write a newspaper report about the incident for the local paper — what happened, the impact on the beach and sea, comments from different people. | Genre control: reported voice, structured facts, invented but plausible quotes — not a story about a day at the beach. |
| Practice Test 3 "In the future" | It's 19 July 2099, and your house robot has just woken you with its loud singing. | Write a diary entry as someone your age living in the future, starting from a set opening sentence. | Imaginative writing inside constraints — first person, diary conventions, futuristic detail, and a compulsory opening line. |
Source: the Department's sample writing question papers for Practice Test 1, Practice Test 2 and Practice Test 3, accessed 14 July 2026.
The pattern worth noticing
Most children who practise for this section practise one thing: creative stories. The Department's own samples suggest that's the wrong bet. An advice sheet, a newspaper report and a diary entry — three prompts, three different everyday text types, and not one bare "write a story about..." among them. Each task names an audience (new students, local newspaper readers) and a purpose (help, inform, record), and the marks explicitly hinge on writing "for a purpose and audience" and addressing the instructions as given.
The practical consequence: a child with one polished, memorised narrative is exposed. If the prompt asks for a report and they deliver their rehearsed story, the Department's own guidance says the response gets lower marks for not addressing the topic. The skill this section rewards is reading the task — spotting the text type, audience and purpose in the first minute, then adapting. You'll see coaching sites claim there are seven or eight "official genres"; treat those lists as their invention. The honest position is that any everyday text type is fair game, and range beats polish.
Ten practice prompts in the official style
These are ours, written for this guide — not Department material. Each follows the structure of the official samples: a scenario, a named text type with an audience and purpose, and optional dot points. Set a 30-minute timer, have your child type rather than handwrite, and rotate text types rather than repeating a favourite.
- Advice sheet
The class pet
Your class has voted to get a pet for the classroom, and next year's class will inherit it. Write an advice sheet for next year's students about how to look after the pet and what to expect. You could include: what the pet needs every day, mistakes to avoid, and what makes it worth the effort.
- Newspaper report
The vanishing oval
Overnight, an enormous sinkhole has opened up in the middle of your local sports oval. Write a newspaper report about the event for the local paper. You could: explain what happened, describe the effect on local clubs and residents, and include comments from different people.
- Diary entry
The swap
Imagine you woke up this morning having swapped lives with an adult in your family for one day. Write a diary entry about the day, starting with: "Dear Diary, By breakfast I already knew this was a terrible idea, because..." You could include: what surprised you, what went wrong, and what you understand now that you didn't before.
- Persuasive letter
The four-day week
Your principal is considering trialling a four-day school week with longer school days. Write a letter to the principal arguing for or against the trial. You could include: how it would affect learning, life outside school, and one problem with your own position and how you'd solve it.
- Speech
The time capsule
Your school is burying a time capsule to be opened in 50 years, and you have been chosen to give a speech at the ceremony. Write the speech. You could include: what you chose to put in the capsule, what you want future students to know about life today, and a prediction you're prepared to be wrong about.
- Advice sheet
Younger you
A student two years younger than you is about to start the same year of school you have just finished. Write an advice sheet to help them get the most out of the year. You could include: what to expect, what you wish you had known earlier, and one thing everyone worries about that turns out to be fine.
- Newspaper report
The uninvited guest
A wild animal has moved into your school grounds and refuses to leave. Write a newspaper report about the situation for the local paper. You could: explain how it was discovered, describe how the school has responded, and include comments from students, staff and an expert.
- Story
The wrong door
Write a story that begins: "The door had been painted shut for as long as anyone could remember — which is why everyone noticed when it was open." You could include: who notices it first, what is on the other side, and how things are different by the end.
- Persuasive piece
Screens in the playground
Your school is deciding whether phones and tablets should be banned at lunchtime. Write a persuasive piece for the school newsletter arguing your view. You could include: what lunchtime is for, the strongest argument against your view and your answer to it, and a realistic compromise.
- Diary entry
The new arrival
Imagine your family has just welcomed an unusual new arrival — you decide what it is. Write a diary entry from the end of its first week in your home, starting with: "Dear Diary, It has been exactly seven days, and nothing in this house works the way it used to..." You could include: what changed first, the moment things went wrong, and why you might not want things back the way they were.
Marking it at home, without a rubric
Since no official rubric exists, the most defensible self-check is the Department's own description of what the task assesses, turned into questions. After a timed attempt, read the piece back together and ask:
- Did it do what was asked? Right text type, right audience, right purpose — the one thing the Department explicitly says costs marks when missed.
- Are the ideas the writer's own? "Creativity of ideas" is the first thing the Department names — a fresh angle on the scenario beats a borrowed plot.
- Does the structure carry the reader? An advice sheet should look like one; a report should lead with what happened; a diary should sound private.
- Is the sentence-level writing controlled? Grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary chosen for effect rather than for show.
Two practical notes from the format itself. First, the 30 minutes includes planning — the Department expects a brainstorm, and a two-minute plan is usually the difference between a piece with a shape and a piece that trails off. Second, the response is typed, so a child who hunt-and-pecks is spending their writing time on the keyboard; comfortable typing is quiet, bankable preparation that no one thinks of as test prep.
Where this fits in preparation
Full disclosure, since this is a site that sells practice material: our practice papers cover Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills, sat online in a player built to mirror the real computer-based test. We don't currently sell writing practice — the prompts above are free, and for writing the free supply is genuinely workable: three official sample questions, a timer, and a parent willing to read the result against the checklist. For the two multiple-choice sections we do cover, one sample paper is free in each subject, no card required.
For the rest of the test: the complete parent guide covers the whole format, the computer-based test guide shows the screen your child will type into, and the question-type explainers break down Thinking Skills and Mathematical Reasoning family by family.
Frequently asked
Questions about the writing section.
How long is the Selective Test writing section?
30 minutes, for one task. The Department's practice test page states you must complete your response within 30 minutes, and that you can brainstorm and plan on paper or on screen before typing your answer. Dictionaries are not permitted.
How much is writing worth in the Selective Test?
25% of the placement score — the same weight as Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills. Each of the four components has counted equally since the current test was introduced.
What topics come up in the Selective Test writing task?
The Department doesn't publish a topic list. The only official evidence is its three sample writing questions, which ask for an advice sheet for new students, a newspaper report about a shipping container spill, and a diary entry set in the year 2099. Notably, none of the three is a plain "write a story" prompt — the task specifies a text type, a purpose and an audience, and you're marked on how well you address exactly what was asked.
Is there an official marking rubric for the writing test?
No. The Department describes what the task assesses — the creativity of your ideas, your ability to write effectively for a purpose and audience, and your text structure, grammar, punctuation, style and vocabulary — and warns that responses which don't address the topic receive lower marks. But it publishes no rubric or band descriptors, and the sample writing questions come with no marking guide. Any detailed "official criteria" you see elsewhere is a coaching college's reconstruction.
Is the writing test handwritten or typed?
Typed. The whole test has been computer-based since 2025, and the Department states students type their response into the test software, with the option to plan on paper or on screen first. The three sample writing PDFs still show the old paper-era answer-sheet instructions, so ignore that part — the prompts are current guidance, the stationery isn't.