studysweatthefifth Sorry for taking so long to reply, here is my take on the test and what you should do:
My experiences: I started studying for this test a good 3 - 3.5 months before the exam test day. Initially, my friend told me about how he was going for it so i wanted to go for it as well, for a new experience to foster my want for something more, academically and to make me a better person. Anyways, I signed up for James An Coaching College on pretty much the last day of February, and started my first lesson the next day. I went Friday classes, and let's just say I was underestimating the difficulty of the tests. I scored like a 30 something on my first two tests, and was quite disappointed, knowing that my classmates were getting 75+ most times. I kept at it, practicing for at least 2-3 hours a day for selective, spamming James An practice tests. Until finally I got a 50+%, which was a huge achievement for me. Anyways, I kept progressing, until it was the VSSE Trial Exam for James An. Basically a simulation of the real one. I scored mediocre for this test, but did well on the English components, getting Sup for writings, and i think aa for the other english ones. Maths i got like ha. Then we had simulation, which was in class and set up like the actual test, all 5 tests in 1 sitting, i found these tests easier than the usual ones, and scored multiple 80+% for these. I went into the actual test feeling nervous but excited, but I knew i had to be calm, and that is what I think lets most people down, they just stress at the fact that this is for real. I was highly doubting my chances, seeing as I guessed many for QR, easily more than 10, and thought there was no way I would get in. The day came of July 16th, when I got a notification on the SEHS website, saying I had a pending offer. This was the best day of my life, easily. Moral: Even if you may have time constraint, you can still do quite well, its just about how much you want it.
Tips for each subject:
VR: Just keep spamming vocab building worksheets, read books, and be excited at the fact of extending your language skills and word connections. A positive mindset is key for all. Extending vocab will help with writing
RC: I don't know if this is just me, but I always try and find the core meaning of a passage or a text, and its important that in comprehension, you look further than what is just the words on a page, find how they could be ambiguous and have two meanings. Do practice tests.
Writing: DO lots of writing, use good vocabulary, write fast, find a pen that suits you. The latter point was important for me, as I had to be comfortable with the pen I was writing with otherwise I wouldn't write as quite (for me this was a 4 pen). Also, if the time for writing is 20 mins, practice with 15, as this will give you about 5 mins to look over and change anything.
NR: Really just do a LOT of worded problems, learn key formulas, but otherwise not too many tips for this one, you kind of have to figure it out by yourself.
Maths: Cover as many topics as you can in the year 8 curriculum, if acer says it won't extend beyond yr 8 concepts, it won't.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions from tests, or just any other queries, feel free to ask me or any of the others who have done the test this year and past years.
