Year 8 Selective Entrance Exam Information 2023

There are four main schools that host Year 9 Selective Entrance Exams every year in Melbourne. They are Melbourne High School (boys), The Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School (girls), Nossal High School (co-ed) and Suzanne Cory High School (co-ed). The main characteristics of the Year 9 Selective Entrance Exam is that the questions tend to be more difficult, the scope of general knowledge required is expanded, and the timing of each paper is tight. Therefore, preparing well for the exam has never been more important.
The good news is that New Century School students who take part in this exam, tend to receive an offer (80% of our participating students get into a selective school). This is in part due to the participation of our students in our holiday programs.

ACER is now the exam writer – what we know:
• There are only “some minor changes” to previous years’ papers.
• The main difference is in the naming of the exam papers. If you are familiar with the Edutest format, this can be somewhat confusing.
▪ The Reading and Maths papers are now called “reasoning” papers.
▪ The Verbal and Numerical Reasoning papers are now “Verbal and Quantitative general ability” papers.
• Please note that the sample questions released by ACER recently are “not necessarily reflective of the difficulty of the exam”.

In preparation for this exam, please make sure you take the following steps:
1. Navigate to the Victorian Selective Schools Website to get the latest information. Make sure to enrol before the closing date. Please make sure you take care in leaving a correct, up-to-date email address and phone number when signing up.
2. Carefully read the “2024 Year 9 Entry to Victoria’s Selective Entry High Schools Information Pack”.
3. Attempt the sample Year 9 Selective Entrance Exam available online. This can be found at: https://www.vic.gov.au/selective-entry-high-school-practice-tests. Although the exam writer is now ACER (not Edutest), the exam should only have “some minor changes” to previous years. The Department still recommends these sample exams “for practice and time management”.
4. Try your best to take part in the Term 2 Yr8 program and Term 2 Holiday Program. We will have three mock exams in a format and at a standard of difficulty similar to the actual exam.
5. Take part in all exercises and mock exams available on our online platform (exams.institute). Make sure to click into the Feedback section on each completed exercise and exam, to view answers and review your performance.

Please take note of the following:
1. The venue for the Year 9 Selective Entry Exam for 2023 has not yet been announced. This is because, unlike previous years, there will be a few venues for the exam. Parents will receive an email a fortnight before exams with your exam venue.
2. Take care to note down the following important dates:
• 2nd of June Applications close
• 27th of June Advice sent to parents on examination details
• 15th of July Selective Entry High School Examination Day
• September Examination outcome reports sent to parents
• September – November Offers process
3. Explore the Selective Entry High Schools and stay up to date on the latest news by going to their websites:
• http://www.mhs.vic.edu.au
• http://www.macrob.vic.edu.au
• http://www.nossalhs.vic.edu.au
• http://www.suzannecoryhs.vic.edu.au

A few notes on the enrolment process:
• Students whose parents hold either a Commonwealth Health Care Card or a Pension Card, and who qualify for income support benefits, are not subject to the 4% quota policy.
• Enrolments close on the 2nd of June. Act earlier rather than later.
• Placement is only available for Australian and New Zealand citizens, and other special categories of students (you must be eligible to study for free in the public education system in Australia). Potential candidates must be in Year 8 intending to study in Year 9 in 2023.
• The application fee is $160. Those who have a Health Care Card are exempt from this fee.
• When filling out your application, you may only express interest in 3 of the 4 schools involved. Consider the order of your preferences carefully because you will be placed in the order of your preference. Once placed, you cannot change your preferences.
• Parents will receive an Admission Ticket about a week before the exam. You must print out this ticket and bring it to the exam venue on the day.
• During the exam, you must bring a valid photo ID that clearly states your name. This can be a student card, passport or library card etc. The ID must feature your photo. In the absence of this form of ID, a recent photo of the student with their name, signed & stamped by their day school, is also acceptable.
• You will receive an email before the 27th of June with details on the exam. If you do not receive this email, call the Victorian Selective Entry Team at ACER on 9277 5270 or email sehs@acer.org.
• If you have a Health Care Card or Pension Card, you should fill in your Centrelink CRN in the application process to be exempted from paying the application fee. This will only increase your child’s chances of being accepted.
• You may address any enquiries to the Victorian Selective Entry Team at ACER on 9277 5270 or email sehs@acer.org.