:D Hi (:
So the exam is split into 6 parts for Year 9 Entry:
Numerical Reasoning: There were 45 questions last year, to be completed in 30 minutes. In my opinion, it was pretty hard and required problem-solving skills.
Mathematics: There were 35 questions, to be completed in 30 minutes. It was on a similar level to Numerical Reasoning, but in some cases, the questions were slightly lengthier than NR.
Verbal Reasoning: There were 60 questions, to be completed in 30 minutes. According to me, this test was the easiest. It required you to find synonyms/antonyms, solve anagrams, and "strengthen" or "weaken" a given statement by choosing one or more appropriate sentences.
Reading: There were 35 questions, to be completed in 35 minutes. In my opinion, it was not very hard. It required you to analyse extracts, poems, and images, among other things (I may or may not have forgotten 😅).
Writing: You had to write a creative and a persuasive piece within 40 minutes. You could allocate each piece as much time you want within that timeframe. However, the examinators reminded us of when the first 20 minutes had lapsed. The creative writing prompt was a person sitting in an empty cinema/theatre, and the persuasive prompt gave you some statistics and the opinions of two people. You had write about whether or not going to the cinema to see movies is still relevant in this era of online streaming.
Disclaimer: So I may have forgotten some things, ok? The timings, number of questions, and prompts above may not be exact/word to word, but were pretty similar.
I think you should practice problem-solving and finishing math questions within the given timeframe. Maybe do the entire Year 8 syllabus + enrichment/extension. Last year, it said on the SEHS website that the content will not exceed Year 8 knowledge, which is a recent development as ACER now conducts the tests. There were no parabola or sin-cos-tan questions on the math tests, but there may have been some graph questions (once again, I am not sure). Try doing Australian Maths Challenge past papers, but in a stricter timeframe. I believe you can get some papers for free from the AMT website.
For the English components, read lots of literature and expand your vocab. That is all I can say for RC and VR, and I cannot emphasise it enough. Practice writing under the timeframe. For writing, it is not necessary to use a "tier three" word every sentence. The section is more about being cohesive, being creative, structuring a "complex" idea, conveying that idea, and making sense. However, it is recommended to use a few "fancy" words. I made a persuasive writing structure on the day before the exam and memorised the basics of it. just saying (: So maybe you could do something like that too.
And maybe try to find other resources online...
So, yes.
