VICTORIA
Victoria’s four selective entry high schools provide an educationally enriched environment for academically high-achieving students in Years 9 to 12.
There are currently two single-sex selective entry high schools:
Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
(taking girls) and
Melbourne High School
(taking boys). There are also two co-educational schools:
Nossal High School,
situated in Berwick and named after University of Melbourne's Emeritus Professor Sir Gus Nossal and
Suzanne Cory High School,
named after the Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Professor Suzanne Cory.
A centralised selection process to admit Year 8 students to the four selective entry schools, administered by the Department of Education and Training,
is used to select students for the schools at Year 9, with approximately 1,000 places offered in any year.
The selection process will include a common entrance examination usually in mid-year (June).
See the following table for their test format, practice tests
and Practice test results (PDF - 11Kb).
If your child is in Year 8, they are eligible to sit the selective entry high schools entrance exam in June
(while the applications close in mid May). Students in government or non-government schools are eligible to apply
here.
Selective School Entrance Exams
Free Practice Tests
Test answers
Prep Tests and Exam Packs
Selective school and scholarship test practice papers or books |
More selective schools entrance test books |
Victorian selective schools entrance exams with answers |
NSW Opportunity Class OC test books
Generally speaking, EduTest uses the same format for Select Entry and
scholarship tests. Scholarship and entrance exams are comprised of Ability tests
and Achievement tests. However there is an exception. As mentioned above, John
Monash Science School, has a different style of entrance examination. See
EduTest test format here.
How are students selected for selective schools? Only students who undertook the examination are eligible for selection to the selective entry high schools.
Currently 85 per cent of the Year 9 enrolments are accepted based on examination results only, with no further information or interview required.
Up to 10% of places are allocated according to rank, score and equity considerations.
Up to 5% are selected through a ‘Principal’s discretionary selection category’, ie. the 5% rule-
restricts how many students could leave one particular school to take up a place at any selective school.
In other words, no more than 5 per cent of Year 8 students from any one school can be accepted across the four selective entry high schools.
It only kicks in when more than 5% of the entire year 8 population of a school has achieved sufficient marks to obtain a place.
Science Schools
John Monash Science School JMSS
has a different style of entrance examination, and so is The University High School - Elizabeth Blackburn Sciences EBS.
Find the details on JMSS and EBS's entry testing.
John Monash Science School is a specialist school which focuses on science, mathematics and associated technologies.
The students who will benefit most from attending the school will be proficient in mathematics,
be able to express themselves clearly in English, to apply scientific reasoning to problems and to think logically and coherently.
Elizabeth Blackburn Sciences is a branch of The University High School. EBS is designed to cater and engage young people in years 11 and 12 who have a passion and
the potential for success in the fields of Science & Mathematics. EBS exposes students to the latest innovations and excellence in the teaching of contemporary science and mathematics
in partnership with the University of Melbourne and Bio21.
SEAL
Select Entry Accelerated Learning programs (SEAL) may use their own test papers. However, the test formats are similar.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Selective High School Entrance Exams
NSW Selective High Schools Test is for students to gain entrance to a selective or agricultural high school in Year 7.
These schools cater for high achieving, academically talented students by providing an educationally enriched environment.
Agricultural high schools emphasise the study of agriculture with some residential facilities for isolated students.
The test consists of 4 parts - Reading, Mathematical reasoning, Thinking skills (replacing General Ability) and Writing.
The first three sections are of multiple choice format while Writing is an open response type -
Reading (30 questions, 40 min), Mathematical reasoning (35 questions, 40 min), Thinking skills (40 questions, 40 min) and Writing (one set writing task, 30 minutes).
It's held in March. See NSW selective high school test dates.
Visit NSW Selective High School Year 7 Test |
NSW Selective High School Year 7 Placement - selection process for more details.
Past Papers or Prep Tests
Free past exam papers or practice tests
Exam Packs
NSW selective schools entrance exam packs
OC tests
Opportunity classes (OC) are like Selective Primary Schools for students in Years 5 and 6. Students in NSW sit for the Opportunity Class test in Year 4.
There are 75 OC schools in NSW including 36 in Sydney.
The OC test covers similar topics to those the Selective School Tests including Reading (25 questions, 30 min), Mathematical reasoning (35 questions, 40 min) and
Thinking skills (30 questions, 30 min, replacing General Ability) in three multiple choice sections but has no Writing.
In many areas it is much harder to make it into an OC school than it is to make it into even an average Selective High School.
Try OC prep tests.
It's held in late July or early August. See NSW OC test dates.
Please visit
NSW Opportunity Class Placement - Year 5 entry to an opportunity class |
NSW Opportunity Class Placement - selection process for more information.
Placement Scores
NSW Selective High School and Opportunity Class Placement Scores are calculated based on the same model.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
GATE / ASET Selective High School Entrance Exams - Grade 6 for Year 7 entry
All students applying for Gifted and Talented Secondary Selective Entrance Programs (GATE) must sit the same Academic Selective Entrance Test (ASET). So GATE is a program while ASET is a test format.
The selection process starts when students are in Year 5, testing in Year 6, with placement starting from Year 7.
These Gifted and Talented academic, arts and languages programs are available at 24 selective public secondary schools.
Perth Modern School is the only fully selective academic school in WA.
There are over 1500 students competing for about 220 places in Perth Modern.
Applications for the test are open in October and close in the following year in February. Usually the exam date is in early March and the test results are released in late May to early June.
Children applying for academic programs will be placed solely on the results of the ASET. Children applying for arts or languages programs may also have to participate in an interview.
The ASET is made up of four components:
- Reading Comprehension - 35 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes
- Communicating Ideas in Writing - 1 writing prompt, 25 minutes
- Quantitative Reasoning - 35 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes, application and problem solving using mathematics and numbers
- Abstract Reasoning - 35 multiple-choice questions, 20 minutes, solves problems to do with shapes and images
The number of questions and time limits are subject to change.
The West Australian reports that the ‘Education Department figures show the overall number of students applying for places in gifted programs has soared 30% in just four years, from 3631 to 4756’.
In 2021, more than 5500 students in Years 6, 8, 9 and 10 completed the ASET.
Free Past Papers, Prep Tests and Exam Packs
Free Past Papers and Prep Tests |
WA SET OF 6 QUANTITATIVE REASONING TESTS - Yr 6 for Yr 7 Selective School Entrance