Other33
Hello, very sorry for the late reply,
I did the selective schools exam in 2023 under the ACER format. Here were my experiences with the tests: Maths was COMPLETELY different, it was nothing, nothing like the typical JAC or any other preparation tests that I previously practiced with. There were very few straightforward equation or formulaic questions (I only saw one question involving gradients!), with the MAJORITY of the test having very weird problem solving questions, the questions themselves do not require any more than year 9 (maybe a bit of year 10) level of maths, however they are very wordy and need you to use logic a lot. Reading comp, verbal reasoning and numerical reasoning have remained very similar to the edutest formats, so you should be good just practising with the old preparation tests. The writing exam however has also changed, you now have to write BOTH a persuasive and a creative essay in 40 minutes, (you can decide however much time to spend for each).
In my opinion, I found maths to be the most difficult because of the new format, and out of all of them, the general consensus is that verbal reasoning is the least difficult.
To improve my vocabulary for VR, I kept a little notebook where I would write down words I did not know from VR practice tests, I noted down what the words were, along with their definitions and examples of them in sentences, and I tried to revise them every once in a while. Mind you, very few of them showed up in the actual test, but hey, better safe than sorry! I guess that best method to improve VR and reading comp is to just read a lot of books.
Regarding preparation for the tests, just do a lot of practice tests for VR and numerical reasoning, because the more you do it, the easier you will spot the patterns. For reading comp, tests are also helpful, so that you can get used to skimming over passages and different text types, however reading books is also very crucial. As for maths, I can’t guarantee that the old JAC and other preparation tests are still useful, however practicing your problem solving skills would be more beneficial, rather than trying to memorise formulas now.
Getting distracted was also an issue for me since I’m a big procrastinator, however as you inch closer to the test date, your brain will automatically know it’s time to be serious. Keep phones away, use app lockers and the usual. Balancing out schoolwork, other commitments and practice tests can be challenging, but just try to focus and get stuff done at school, and this is depressing, but in the 2 - 3 week lead up to the exam during the school holidays, I devoted majority of my time towards practice tests. Make use of any spare time you have. You just have to work on your mentality, stay strong, and don’t worry the torture will end!
This is a classic tip, but it cannot be overstated enough: Never leave ANY questions on the answer sheet blank! Don’t spend too long on any one question, if it’s too hard, then skip. At the end, come back and take an educated guess, if you still can’t, then just guess randomly. I recommend guessing all one letter such as ‘C’, but who knows how lucky you will be. I just want to share a tip that really worked for me in English, contrary to what most people say that you should never read the whole passage before answering questions, I actually thoroughly skimmed over the whole text before answering, that way I could memorise roughly where to find each answer and answer questions related to the overall tone or theme of the text. Find what works for you.
Hope this helps!
Feel free to ask if you have any other questions!
