2022 Victorian Selective Entry Test Results
In verbal Reasoning do you know how to easily solve the odd word out questions or the ones with antonyms and synonyms, if you don’t know any of the words?
WhoKnows you should study common word roots, prefixes and suffixes to make an educated guess
eg: if you want to find a word similar to 'evil' out of the options:
- tangible
- caustic
- benevolent
- malevolent
- boisterous
you would choose 'malevolent' as the prefix 'mal' is added to a word to change the meaning to negative/bad
I think I'm okay with most math concepts, but I'm really bad at probability (I know it's easy, but I just can't get the hang of it). are there any specific aspects of probability that are worth knowing for the exam?
I will be taking the entrance exam next year and I am very confused as to what to study, I have looked at the practice tests on the Victorian government website but have been told these are outdated. It would be very appreciated if someone could give me some relevant resources to study. Also my goal is to get into Mac Rob so should I just be studying year 9 and 10 content in general?
Mira284
Hi Mira,
I took the selective entry exam this year and wrote a post giving some basic tips for each test. You are absolutely right in saying that the practice tests given on the Victorian government's website are outdated. For me, I complained that they were absolutely nothing like them (especially maths and quantitative reasoning which I found really, really difficult.) Basically, we received questions that were really intimidating and contained lots of visuals like graphs and diagrams. Stuff you could argue "were within the year 8 curriculum" but were really intimidating. Brush up on your problem-solving skills and all Year 8 concepts to a masterful degree. I would potentially recommend APSO and Maths Olympiad Year 8 questions for practice.
Mira284 the tests on the VicGov website truly are outdated - english and verbal are kind of similar, but maths and numerical/quantitative are completely different. The maths ones can be solved using yr8 curriculum maths but they're hard to understand. I'd recommend doing tests for higher year levels to prepare, and as V mentioned earlier Maths Olympiad questions as well
Does anyone have a friend who got a Principal Discretion Interview Invite
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V! & Shipra28 , you guys recommended math Olympiad, Just would like know if these question are according to the new Acer question as they are tougher but at a more standard time limit. Also, if you guys have any tips on vocabulary or anything we should do on the day, eg. Writing down the alphabet and tips like that, would be very appreciated. Thank you as I am doing the exam this year. If you have any other resources for other subjects please let us know.
Randomhuman24 hi! im sitting my exam this year in june. I just wanted to ask what your thoughts on each test were? Like the difficulty and if it was harder or easier than expected. Also, for verbal reasoning, are there lots of hard vocabulary or would you say that most are around yr 8-9 level. For math, what were the topics that you were questioned on. And for writing did u do a whole story or only a scene? Thanks, and congrats on your acceptance, hope your going well in nossal!
also i attend a school with only me and 1 other person sitting the test, so not very competitive, will this give me some sort of advancement or not really?
MMHS If you're sitting for the year 9 2025 selection exam, it depends on the number of students in your year level. Not the amount of students taking the exam. This is called the 4% rule where the selective school you are applying to can only take 4% of your year level.
For example, if you were to have 100 people in your year level. Only 4 people can be accepted (or 0 if no one does well on the test.) One could have 3 superiors and still not get in because of the 4% rule. This is where the PD (principal discretion) come in. Those affected by the 4% rule are taken under the PD. PD is very competitive. The principal interviews you about why they should select you.
Anyways, good luck don't stress too much. I'm taking the year 10 exam for schs because I managed to forget to apply for the year 9 exam 
MMHS hello! I don’t think my testing experience would be that similar to yours, as the test has shifted over to ACER. However, I’m still happy to give you my perspective!
For me, I found reading comprehension and numerical reasoning to be the easiest sections, although generally the difficulty wasn’t too bad across the board; it’s more so the time pressure that makes it difficult. I didn’t go to tutoring or anything for the selective exam, so I didn’t really have an expectation of how difficult the tests would be aside from comparison to the sample tests on the government website, in that the real test was definitely much harder than these. It was definitely still doable though. If you do tutoring (esp. at James Ann and Henderson), I’ve heard the real exams were of similar difficulty.
As for Verbal Reasoning, most of the vocabulary was pretty comfortable and familiar to me, so I wouldn’t say it was overly difficult (probably above your standard year 8-9 level though - as expected). Also, even if you don’t know what a word means, the process of elimination always works as a backup (which word doesn’t fit in, what do you know about the prefix/suffix/patterns within the word, etc.). I think the best thing to do to prepare is to expand your vocabulary naturally by reading some high level novels.
I honestly don’t remember much of what we were tested on in math, but the concepts weren’t overly difficult (just revise year 8, year 9, and year 10 concepts -> nothing over that was really on the test), probably most important to work on your algebra skills. Finding tricky questions in your math textbook (or a year 10 one) or from math olympiads is helpful. Again, the time limit was what really got me for math, but I think the best thing to do would just be practice questions and practice papers under timed conditions to get used to the real exam conditions. There are some free ones online on the government website (which from my experience, are pretty easy compared to the real thing), but there are other paid resources you could buy if you wanted to get more practice.
As for writing, I think it has changed quite a bit since I did it, but we were given a sheet of paper with images and text as our “prompt”, and we had to write a story on it (a full story). Many people, including myself, didn’t finish it though. Doing well in this section definitely helps you stand out, as it was the worst section for most.
If you have any specific questions please let me know, I’m happy to answer!
MMHS then youll ez get in
KIARAA thanks for the info, good luck as well. Do you go to any sort of tutoring? I do attend weekly james ann classes which they now spam us with tests that legit have some yr 12 esque problems. Also it doesn't help that most people in my class usually get around 50-70% on each test. Same with me soooo...
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Randomhuman24 thank you very much!!! I hear that the shift to the acer format called for easier math 'levels' as it is only around yr8 and 9 content (i still practise some yr 10 stuff tho). The thing that really makes me feel the most anxious is the thought that 'your not good enough' is the fact that most online tests i do i get around high averages, verbal more around Above average. But I'm not sure if that is the same complexity as the real test. Also on my weekly james ann tests I usually get 60-70% for most and usually superior on writing which is out of 20 (i usually get 18 on this but I'm not sure how leniant the markers are). I just really hope that I am able to get at least 3 superiors which at the moment i feel is a big big task (i hope this makes sense). Anyways this was a real RANT but yeah. Also do u know anyone who got in a selective school with 'low ish' scores? I just need reassurance. Anyways thanks again!
That's very helpful! thanks I am also doing selectives this year and I am very nervous but after I heard peoples experiences in selectives I got a bit of motivation and I'm working hard trying my best for it. I go to a tuition and they give us plenty of yr 8-10 work which is pretty easy, they help you understand the format and its very helpful when you do practice test so far I am doing good and I hope I do good during the exam as well!
Good luck to all the students doing the exam!!
anyone have any practice material for the year 11 entry exam for suzaane cory? I'm struggling to find resources for it and I dont know what to study for it.