JMSS Entry Tips

Yes
Hi, I did the test this year and got in, however I'm not going. I never went to tutoring for the test and I personally don't think you need to. The test wasn't very hard, I think it's more important to practice answering questions quickly and accurately. Just knowing the content from Year 9 and maybe Year 10 for Maths and Science will cover it. The main place where people don't perform well is the Science and writing tests. I think going to tutoring or buying practice exams for these tests could be useful since you wouldn't have done these kinds of tests elsewhere.
Numerical Reasoning and Maths were pretty standard tests, if you did the selective entry exam, they were easier than those (at least in my year, I know the selective test changed this year). The numerical reasoning test is actually very similar to the practice version for select entry on the victorian government website (one of the questions from this year's test was literally on that practice test). I wouldn't stress too much about these, just go through a maths textbook and do some time practice test and you should be good.
Science Reasoning is a mixture of general science knowledge questions and data analysis questions. To practice the data analysis questions, I would suggest the ICAS Science tests as those are as close as you're going to get to the questions on the test. With the general knowledge, like with Maths, knowing your Year 9 content should cover it. I honestly am bad with Science general knowledge since my old school didn't teach it very well but I still ended up with an above average (I think my data analysis carried though).
There are 2 writing components, a science report and a science essay (forgot their actual names). Going to tutoring for these tests would be beneficial although you don't need it. For the science report, we had the information and method for a random experiment and we had to write a hypothesis, discussion and conclusion I think. Really knowing the in depth rules and components of a report is crucial for this. My school covered this heavily earlier this year and I ended up getting a superior for this test. Your discussion should be about 2 paragraphs (include improvements, accuracy, reliability, repeatability, etc.) and is probably the part that most people mess up on. I can go more in depth on this if you would like.
For the Science Essay, you get this page of information on a random topic (I got black soldier flies and its impact on greenhouse emissions, it was an absolutely awful prompt). It's just your regular essay format (2 - 3 body paragraphs), and you basically use the information given and some of your own if you can to take a stance and sort list the effects and such.
As far as tips, bring an analog watch (not digital) since I don't think there were any clocks and they only gave time stamps like once maybe. Set the minute hand to start at the very top so its easier to read since all the test were half an hour. I don't really have any other tips, as long as you study the content, practice and are pretty quick to answer questions, you'll be fine. Around half the students will get interviews so just practice regularly.
I know that was a lot, but feel free to ask anymore questions.

Yes

Hi! I also did the test this year and I can tell you that it's not actually very hard. I personally didn't attend any tutoring and overall had about only 3 months of (hardcore) preparation. All you need is one superior (aim for two or more though to stand out) but also make sure the other results support it. I know a friend of mine got two superiors but didn't get an interview because of that. Practice exams definitely help. I'd recommend doing some ICAS science reasoning questions as they were very similar to the ones on the actual exam. You should also familiarise yourself with reading data correctly as most of the science reasoning questions were based on being able to extract information rather than having extensive background knowledge.

As for the mathematics and numerical reasoning, I'd recommend Henderson exams. The mathematics and numerical reasoning exams were definitely more stressful due to the time limit so time yourself while doing the practice exams. Covering the Year 9 and some Year 10 maths topics will be enough. The biggest thing would probably be to not leave any questions unanswered at all, even if it means you're guessing a third of the exam.

A lot of people found writing to be the most difficult and rightfully so, so make sure you know the structure of a lab report well. You should definitely write a few practice ones and get your teacher to mark it if possible. If not, you could just do what I did and ask ChatGPT for feedback. The other writing piece is much simpler and is something of an information report. You're already given all the information so it's mainly just organising and paraphrasing the ideas. The most important thing for both pieces is to read the criteria. You won't have a lot of time so spend the first five or so minutes organising your ideas. Prioritise the points included in the criteria over excess information.

That's pretty much it. Don't stress about it too much but also don't be overconfident. If you've sat SEHS or scholarship exams before, the format will be somewhat familiar to you. I'd also be happy to answer any more questions you have! Good luck!

Yes
I'm not sure about the practice tests but they do seem to have quite a lot of content and could help you. As for the science report, like I said before, you will be given the information of a science experiment (I think mine was about like a parachute of some sort, definitely an experiment that is usually done in high school science). They will give you the method, material and aim which will usually be incorrect in some way and you will have to address this in your discussion. In my essay, I wrote that the materials did not specify the size of the spoon used to measure and that the method was written in present tense instead of past tense (people often make the mistake of writing the method in present tense so look out for this in the test). These two limitations were split into two paragraphs, and in each you should discuss how the limitation affects the experiment's validity, reproducibility, repeatability, etc. and how it can be improved. I don't remember if I also wrote a paragraph on trends of the data but you should do this as well (in total 2-3 paragraphs for discussion). And the conclusion should be a regular conclusion, is the hypothesis supported, why why not, restate some of the limitations and their affects and how the experiment can overall be improved to be more valid. Hopefully this helps!

Hi,
I am sitting the entrance exam for JMSS (John Monash Science School) in 2024 to attain entry in 2025 for year 10, and I really want to get in however I am weak at math. So any resources for math would be very useful. I have a list of things from maths and science which may be covered and I need to learn. But online I can't find any worksheets with answers for those specific topics. Also for the science writing is there any place where I can get science experiments or topics to write about in limited time? I am also trying to study by myself without tuition or any money involved, as I went to tuition for the year 9 entry and did not get accepted, so I would really like to get into JMSS. Any help would be appreciated.

TT556

Hello! As I mentioned before, I found the Henderson exams to be really useful in terms of familiarity. This, however, doesn't mean that practice exams are the only thing you should be doing. From my experience, your textbooks are your best friend! For maths, I'd recommend covering most of the Year 9 content and some of the Year 10 content (factorising/expanding quadratics in particular). My school uses Cambridge but I also purchased an Oxford version. I'd say the Oxford one is more slow-paced but also incredibly helpful since each set of questions is based on the former with minor changes.

Numerical reasoning is slightly more difficult to prepare for since it relies heavily on skills like pattern recognition than following formulas. I'm assuming you have experience with it since you sat the Year 9 entry so I wouldn't worry much about that, just continue doing more practice exams. One thing that I'd recommend that I haven't seen anyone suggest before is Sudoku. As odd as it sounds, whenever I was feeling too burnt out to study, I just did a few sudoku puzzles and I found that it did actually help.

As for science writing prompts, I used AI to generate them and then mark my work once I had finished writing. If your school uses Pearson for science, there are experiments after every lesson. All you have to do is come up with the results. They can be made up for practice as long as they're somewhat accurate or you could ask your teacher to give them to you instead.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Hi, I am also sitting the exam for JMSS for 2025 and just read these tips and they are actually really good, so Thank You! Anyways, I was wondering about the interview part of the process and whether I could prepare for them in some way. By that I mean joining more clubs/trying to increase my achievement list (tbh I don't really have as much). I just wanted to know if there are things I should participate in that will increase my chances and some examples of achievemnts I should be having.
Thanks for your time!

cshar

Definitely! Make sure that you're passionate about at least a few of them as they do look at your CV while interviewing you. I remember I got asked to point out which of my achievements I was proudest of. I was able to relate it to my culture but relating it to a hobby or passion is probably event better. Unfortunately, for the interview itself you can either get really lucky or unlucky with the interviewer so you want a solid CV to boost your chances. Some examples of desirable achievements might be: Academic Excellence Awards (or the equivalent of student of the term/year), ICAS distinction, Australian Maths Competition distinction, NAPLAN certificate of achievement etc.
As for participation, do some volunteering if possible (could be something as simple as Clean Up Australia Day) and join some school clubs if your schedule allows. Playing a sport or instrument will also give you some leverage, especially if you've won awards for it.

I'm glad you're finding the tips useful! I'd be happy to answer any more questions if you have them!

nuclei
Thank you so much for your time and help!
For Maths I have a year 9 Oxford math book so I'll focus mostly on that. And for science I'll use AI. I'll also play sudoku and see if it helps!

TT556

I'm glad I could help! I'd also like to note that this was what I gained from my personal experience of a very crammed 3 months of preparation and what worked from me may not work for other people. It could also be a good idea to experiment to find what works best for you. Make sure you're well prepared but also don't neglect your wellbeing! Best of luck!

nuclei Thanks for the suggestions. But unfortunately my school does not run any sort of extra competitions and the only awards they do are Academic Excellence and Endeavors ( I did get some of those). I don't really have any awards in maths outside of school (and science) so now I'm stressing out. Anyways, thanks for letting me know about the volunteering thing, I think I'll register soon!

I'm also in the Seal class, and I did Vhap Maths (if that counts) :

cshar

Then don't worry too much about the achievements. You can also use that to your advantages. You should read up on programs offered at JMSS and instead talk about what you want to do if you were given the opportunity to study at JMSS if that makes sense. You can find more information on the old ATAR Notes website so make sure to read those discussions too! Hope this helps!

nuclei

Hello,
I had another question, I was wondering if the amount of people applying for JMSS from a school affects the number of students being accepted? I read about JMSS only taking 3% of the number of students that applied from a certain school. So if only 2 people apply from a school their main competition is each other?

TT556

Hi!
This really just depends on your school's cohort. Assuming there are 67 or more Year 9s at your school this year, it shouldn't affect your chances if only you and one other person from your school are applying.

Hello Everyone,
I would like to express my gratitude for the invaluable advice you have provided here. As I am preparing to take the JMSS exam this year, I am seeking assistance in enhancing my numerical reasoning skills. I was wondering if you could kindly recommend any resources that could aid me in this endeavour. If you possess any insights or strategies pertaining to this matter, I would greatly appreciate your guidance.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

ッUSAッ

Hi,
I'd recommend the Henderson exams as I said previously. It can be difficult improving in NR so I'd say just practice do lots of problems. You can get them online, from textbooks, or your teachers.

ak

Hi,
The only way to improve your time management is to do timed practice tests. This is super important because for the JMSS tests, warnings were only announced five minutes before time was up. For NR, there are 50 questions in 30 minutes and for maths there are 60 in 30 minutes. When practicing limit your time even further. For example, aim to finish the test in 25 minutes instead of 30 and think of those extra 5 as an acceptable but not desirable overtime. They don't actually expect you to answer every single question correctly, but leave no question unanswered and don't spend too long on a single question either. Personally I guessed around 20 maths questions and 15 NR questions but still got above average for both. For the science report, I don't feel like I did very well and the correct structure was never really covered by my teacher at school. Looking back on it though, @Ommahp had some very useful and relevant advice if you scroll to the top of the thread.

nuclei Thank you for your reply. Could you kindly provide me with some recommendations for strengthening written communication skills?

I would love to hear about your approach to preparing for this exam. If you don't mind, could you kindly share your study methodology with me? I'm eager to learn from others and gather different strategies that could help me excel in my own preparations.

Thanks

nuclei
hi thanks for the advice, i was wondering when im doing practice tests at home with time, should i just aim to finish all the questions within the time frame as if its a real exam, or should i study the qestions and try to get them right, are the examiners more biased in looking for students who can finish within the time frame (meaning getting an quite of questions wrong) or students who can answer correctly (but dont finish within the time limit).

nuclei The interview I did didn't consist of any essay writing but there was a multiple part NR question that had to be answered in a short amount of time.
hi,
im a little bit confused on this part, in the interview if u pass, are they still going to give you more test questions to do in a time frame? i thought it was just talking about science and stuff and they ask u questions

ッUSAッ

For the most part, I worked out of my school textbooks. My school uses Pearson for science and Cambridge for maths (I also purchased an Oxford maths textbook) so I mainly did the questions from those books. I focused on science more since I was doing advanced work for math in class anyway and I ended up covering the entire science book in about two months. Over my three months of preparation, I basically studied at any spare moment. I started with covering content from my textbooks, then as the date of the exam neared I began doing practice exams. I didn't really practice writing since I felt pretty confident in my writing abilities but in the last two weeks or so I did ask ChatGPT for prompts and have my writing marked by it. Overall, I wouldn't recommend my study method as it was very rushed. I relied heavily on prior foundation knowledge and the fact that I was scoring well in both subjects but also had to sacrifice a lot of my social life as I studied for the exam and tried to join activities to put on my CV.

ak

You should definitely revise the content beforehand and treat the practice exams like proper ones. As for what the examiners are looking for, I can't say, but it shouldn't matter as long as you don't leave any questions unanswered. During the reading time, make a mental note of all the easier questions/questions you can do and try to answer them to the best of your ability. Leave the harder ones last and if you end up running out of time, it's fine to guess.

ak

For Year 10 entry there are two parts to the interview. First is the group interview which is a multi-stage interview in itself. There are about 5 people in each group. During the group interview, you want to be friendly and sociable as they test teamwork and leadership. It starts off pretty relaxed with some icebreakers to get to know your group. After that they give you a budget and a problem and you choose how to spend the budget. I remember my group had a budget of 5 million and we had to spend it to support the repopulation of the endangered sugar glider. This activity is supervised by some of the JMSS Year 12s. Then there's another stage where they give you materials and a challenge. For my group, we had to move a small ball from one side of the table to the other with no direct contact. This is also supervised by Year 12s. That's the last stage of the group interview and after that you are seated at a desk and given an extensive NR problem to solve in a minute. Once that minute is up, you go to your one-on-one interviews. The group activities vary with each group so it's unlikely you'll get the same as the group before or after you.

nuclei Previously, you recommended me the Henderson exams for N.R., but are there any good books for this... If anyone knows any, please let me know.

Thank you
ANYNN

ッUSAッ

The NR question was a 3-4 part question from memory. Personally, I didn't finish it and I don't think it matters too much.

The challenge my group got was fairly easy but while I was waiting for the 1-1 interviews I spoke to a girl in the group before me and she said her group had a robotics one and didn't end up completing it. Again, I don't think it matters too much as long as you show strong leadership because my friend was also in that group and he ended up getting a first round offer.

nuclei
Ok

nuclei Does ChatGPT check W.E. properly?

MR.JMSS

Not really. I only used it since I was already confident in my writing and even then it was only to practice a little before the exam. If you do use it, don't worry too much about the mark it gives (rare to get 80%+) and focus on the feedback unless it's telling you to go in more detail. That's useless since you'll only have 30 minutes per piece anyway. It's obviously better to get a teacher to mark your work but unfortunately mine was swarmed with work at the time so I did what I could.

nuclei I'd recommend the Henderson exams as I said previously.

Did you do the workshops? Where would you get them?

nuclei If you do use it, don't worry too much about the mark it gives (rare to get 80%+) and focus on the feedback unless it's telling you to go in more detail.

Oh OK...

ッUSAッ

Nope I got it off a friend. It was the Year 8 one I believe but the content isn't very Year 8 friendly and it was about the same difficulty as the JMSS exam.