Free · Timed · 25 minutes · Years 6–8

Free Scholarship Practice Test — 30 Questions, 25 Minutes, Instant Results

A free, timed sample in the style of the ACER and Edutest scholarship papers: 30 multiple-choice questions across mathematics and reading and language, drawn from our Year 6, 7 and 8 banks at the stretch and challenge tiers, 25 minutes on the clock, marked instantly with a section breakdown. Part of RHZ Tutoring's 3,261 free practice questions. No sign-up.

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⏱ 25-minute countdown, auto-marked📊 Section breakdown: maths reasoning · reading & language📚 3,261 free practice questions

Free practice quizzes › Scholarship practice test · Selective Entry practice test

The practice test: 30 questions in 25 minutes

Two sections. Press Start the timer, answer every question you can, and press Mark my test before the clock runs out, or it will be marked automatically. Set 11873 · New set of questions →

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Section 1: Maths reasoning (15 questions)

Question 1
Maths reasoning · Fraction & decimal operations

Calculate: 3/4 ÷ 1/2.

Question 2
Maths reasoning · Ratios & rates

Which is better value: 3 pens for $6 or 5 pens for $9?

Question 3
Maths reasoning · Percentages & rates

A water tank is filled to 80% of its capacity. Water is then added until the tank is 95% full, using 180 litres. What is the full capacity of the tank in litres?

Question 4
Maths reasoning · Statistics & probability

Mia has a set of 5 different whole numbers. The mean is 8, the median is 7, and the range is 10. The smallest number in the set is 3. What is the largest number?

Question 5
Maths reasoning · Equations

The solution to the equation 4(x + 3) = 2x + 18 is worked out below. Which step contains the FIRST error? Step 1: 4x + 12 = 2x + 18 Step 2: 4x − 2x = 18 − 12 Step 3: 2x = 6 Step 4: x = 4

Question 6
Maths reasoning · Geometry

A parallelogram has angles of x°, (x + 40)°, x°, and (x + 40)°. What is the value of x?

Question 7
Maths reasoning · Percentages & rates

After a 15% discount, Priya pays $170 for a skateboard. What was the original price of the skateboard? Round to the nearest cent.

Question 8
Maths reasoning · Integers

Maya writes this rule: 'Start with any negative integer. Add it to its opposite. Then multiply the result by any negative integer. The final answer is always zero.' Which explanation BEST describes why Maya's rule always works?

Question 9
Maths reasoning · Integers

On a number line, point A is at −8 and point B is at 3. Point C is exactly halfway between A and B. What is the value of point C?

Question 10
Maths reasoning · Geometry

A rectangle has a perimeter of 56 cm. Its length is 4 cm more than three times its width. What is the length of the rectangle?

Question 11
Maths reasoning · Percentages & rates

A retailer buys a smartwatch for $250. He marks it up by 40% to set the selling price, then offers a loyalty discount of 15% off the selling price. A customer also has a coupon that gives an extra 5% off the discounted price. What percentage of the original cost price does the customer actually pay? Round to the nearest whole percent.

Question 12
Maths reasoning · Percentages & rates

A school canteen raises the price of a meal deal by 12%, bringing the new price to $8.96. What was the original price of the meal deal?

Question 13
Maths reasoning · Integers

Liam says: 'The product of two negative integers is always less than either of the two integers.' Is Liam correct?

Question 14
Maths reasoning · Algebra & linear equations

The formula T = 4n + 3 gives the total cost in dollars of hiring equipment for n hours. A second formula gives the same equipment cost as T = 6n − 9. For how many hours are the costs equal, and what is that total cost?

Question 15
Maths reasoning · Area, volume & angles

A square has an area of 81 cm². A rectangle has the same area as the square. The rectangle is 3 cm wide. What is the perimeter of the rectangle?

Section 2: Reading & language (15 questions)

Question 16
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student wants to persuade readers that school uniforms should be abolished. She writes: 'Uniforms crush creativity and make students miserable.' Which revision would make this argument MOST persuasive, and why?

Question 17
Reading & language · Writing & grammar

Read this sentence: 'Exhausted after the long journey, the hotel finally came into view.' What grammatical problem does this sentence contain?

Question 18
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read this sentence: 'Having studied all night, the exam felt surprisingly manageable to Aiden.' A teacher marks this as containing a dangling modifier. Which version correctly repairs the error AND keeps the intended meaning that Aiden did the studying?

Question 19
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student's short story includes this paragraph: 'The waiting room smelled of old magazines and disinfectant. A child across from Marcus kept kicking the chair leg — thump, thump, thump. The clock above the door had stopped at 3:47.' The teacher says this paragraph 'tells us everything about how Marcus feels without using a single emotion word'. Which explanation BEST accounts for how this effect is achieved?

Question 20
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read these two paragraphs written by different students about the same scene: a boy named Eli who gives his lunch to a homeless man. Student A: 'Eli gives his lunch away, which shows he is generous and kind.' Student B: 'When Eli silently slides his lunch bag across without making eye contact, the author suggests that true generosity seeks no recognition — Eli's averted gaze becomes the text's quiet argument against performative kindness.' A student says both responses make the same basic point, so they are equally valid for a text analysis essay. What is wrong with this judgement?

Question 21
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Which sentence uses an apostrophe correctly?

Question 22
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

Four students each add the suffix '-ance' or '-ence' to a base word. Which student has made an error that changes the word to a non-standard spelling? Sam: 'persevere' → 'perseverance' Ava: 'exist' → 'existance' Leo: 'obey' → 'obeyance' Mia: 'correspond' → 'correspondence'

Question 23
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage. "The journalist's report began: 'Hundreds of concerned locals flooded the council chambers last Tuesday.' A second journalist covering the same meeting wrote: 'Approximately two hundred residents attended the council session on Tuesday.'" Which statement best explains how the two reports differ in their portrayal of the event?

Question 24
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read this extract: 'The principal's voice was calm and steady as she announced the school's closure, but her hands gripped the podium until her knuckles turned white.' What does the contrast between the principal's voice and her hands most likely suggest?

Question 25
Reading & language · Reading & comprehension

A story narrator says: 'I told Jess it was a great idea.' Later the narrator thinks: 'I had said what she needed to hear.' What does the second sentence reveal about the narrator that the first sentence hides?

Question 26
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

Which word pair shows a BASE WORD that changes its spelling when a suffix is added, and is the change explained correctly?

Question 27
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage. "Every summer, Nadia's family drove to the same campsite by the lake. Her parents called it 'the perfect escape.' This year, Nadia sat in the back seat scrolling through her phone, barely glancing at the eucalyptus trees sliding past the window. When they arrived, her mother breathed in deeply and said, 'Smell that!' Nadia looked up and, for just a moment, she saw the light hitting the water exactly the way she remembered." What does the final sentence most likely suggest about Nadia?

Question 28
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage, then answer the question. "The principal's message to the school newsletter said: 'We are proud of our students for their enthusiastic participation in the clean-up day. With over 200 students involved, it was our biggest event yet. A small number of students chose not to participate, but we hope they will join us next time.'" What is the effect of the phrase 'a small number of students chose not to participate' on the overall tone of the message?

Question 29
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

How many syllables in 'responsibility'?

Question 30
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Two editorials discuss the same government decision to cut funding for public libraries. Editorial 1 calls the cuts 'a pragmatic response to budget pressures'. Editorial 2 calls the same cuts 'a reckless assault on community learning'. Both editorials are describing identical dollar figures and the same policy. Which statement BEST explains what the difference in language reveals about each writer?

Your result

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Maths reasoning0 / 15
Reading & language0 / 15
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What this scholarship practice test contains

Thirty multiple-choice questions in two timed sections. Section 1, Maths reasoning, has fifteen questions drawn from our Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8 maths banks: number and algebra, ratio and rates, measurement, geometry, statistics and probability, with the stretch and challenge tiers preferred so most items sit above the year level a Year 6 student is used to. Section 2, Reading & language, has fifteen questions from the same three years of our English banks: comprehension of short literary and informative passages, inference, vocabulary in context, spelling, grammar and punctuation. Every set is seeded, so the link you are on shows the same questions each time and a new seed gives a fresh set. The clock is 25 minutes for the lot, which is deliberately tight: roughly fifty seconds a question, which is close to the pace of the real scholarship papers.

The answer key is not in the page. When you press Mark my test, or when the timer reaches zero, the browser asks our server for the key for this exact set, marks every question, shows the correct answer and an explanation with the year level of each item, and breaks the score down by section and by topic. Unanswered questions count as wrong, as they do in the real exam, so it is worth answering everything before the time runs out.

About the Victorian Selective Entry exam

Victoria has four selective-entry high schools: Melbourne High School (boys), Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (girls), Nossal High School in Berwick (co-educational) and Suzanne Cory High School in Werribee (co-educational). Entry is by a single competitive examination sat in Year 8 for Year 9 entry, usually in June, with a smaller number of places sometimes offered for later year levels. Students nominate their preferred schools on one application, and places are offered on the basis of exam results, with a proportion of places set aside under equity provisions. Suzanne Cory, in Werribee, draws heavily from Melbourne's west and is the school most families we work with are aiming for.

For students in Year 8 in 2027, school communications give the exam date as 20 June 2027, with applications typically opening early in the year and closing well before the exam. Dates, fees, eligibility rules and the exact test format are set by the Department of Education and can change from year to year, so confirm every detail on the VSEHS website before you plan around it. What has been consistent is the shape of the test: reading comprehension, mathematics, verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and two short writing tasks (one creative, one persuasive or analytical), all under strict time limits and pitched above the Year 8 curriculum. The reasoning sections are the ones school programs rarely teach, and the writing tasks are marked for ideas, structure and control of language in a very short time, which is why students who are strong in class can still struggle on the day.

The multiple-choice sections of the real exam reward three things: secure knowledge a year or so ahead of the classroom, the habit of reading a question exactly, and pace. This practice test checks the first and the third. It does not check writing, and it does not include the pattern-based verbal and numerical reasoning puzzles, both of which need their own practice.

ACER and Edutest scholarship tests

Independent and Catholic schools in Melbourne offer academic scholarships through external testing agencies rather than their own papers. The two you will meet most often are ACER and Edutest, and they feel quite different. ACER's Cooperative Scholarship Testing Program (CSTP) is run at set levels: Level 1 for Year 7 entry (sat in Year 6), Level 2 for Year 9 entry and Level 3 for Year 11 entry. The papers are long and demanding: two written expression tasks, a humanities paper of reading comprehension and interpretation that includes poems, cartoons, tables and extracts, and a mathematics paper that leans on reasoning rather than recall. ACER tests are usually held on a single day in February or March, and one sitting can be used for several participating schools.

Edutest papers are shorter and broken into five sections, typically of about thirty minutes each: verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, reading comprehension, mathematics and written expression. Most sections are multiple choice and the pace is brisk. Schools using Edutest often run the test on their own campus at their own date, so a family may sit two or three across a season. Because the sections are short, a student who loses a minute panicking on a hard question pays for it immediately, which is why timed practice matters so much for Edutest in particular.

This practice test is closer to the multiple-choice mathematics and reading sections of both formats than to the reasoning puzzles or the writing. If your child is preparing for a Year 7 scholarship, treat the Year 7 and Year 8 items here as the stretch they are; a Year 6 student who handles them comfortably is well placed.

A preparation timeline

  1. Twelve to nine months out (for Selective Entry 2027: Term 3 and 4 of Year 7). Diagnose first. Sit this test and the free Skills Check, and find out whether the gaps are knowledge (Year 8 maths not yet met), technique (never seen a reasoning question) or speed. Close the maths gaps with the Year 7 and Year 8 topic quizzes and start reading widely: non-fiction, opinion pieces and short fiction, not just novels.
  2. Nine to six months out (Term 1 of Year 8). Learn the question types. Work through each section of the exam separately with short timed sets, and begin a weekly timed writing task with feedback. Confirm the application window on the VSEHS website and lodge the application early.
  3. Six to three months out (Term 1 to 2). Full-length practice papers under exam conditions every fortnight, marked and reviewed by section. The review is where the marks come from: every error goes into a list and gets re-attempted a week later.
  4. The last eight weeks. Taper. One full paper a week, timed sets on the weakest section between them, and writing practice to a fixed plan. In the final week, sleep, a light set each day and nothing new.

For a Year 6 scholarship, compress the same sequence into the second half of Year 5 and the first term of Year 6, because ACER and most Edutest sittings fall between February and May of Year 6.

How to read your result

We do not report percentiles, because a thirty-question free sample cannot be normed against the real candidate pool and any percentile we invented would mislead you. What we can say is this. Selective-entry and scholarship tests are competitive, and the students who win places are typically answering above-level questions quickly and accurately. A score of 80% or more here, inside the time limit, suggests your child is ready for full-length timed practice papers and should move to those. A score between 50% and 80% usually means the content is mostly there and the work is in the hardest third of the questions and the clock; look at which section is weaker and drill it with timed sets. A score of 50% or less means the Year 6 and Year 7 foundations need attention before exam-style practice will pay off, which is common and fixable: start with the Year 6 and Year 7 topic quizzes, secure the weakest topics and come back to this test in a term.

Watch the time as well as the score. A high score with the clock expired is a pace problem; a low score with minutes to spare is a content problem. They need different fixes, and the results panel shows both.

What to do next

1. Free Skills Check

Fifteen minutes, every Year 7 topic at every tier including stretch and challenge, with a same-day topic-by-topic report and a tutor call to walk through it. It is the diagnostic we use to start every selective and scholarship program.

Start the free Skills Check →

2. Selective Entry 2027 program

Two sessions a week, maths and English with reasoning drills, a full timed practice test every fortnight, at our Truganina centre or online. First session free.

Selective Entry 2027 → Selective entry and scholarship tutoring →

3. Printable practice packs

Full-length selective and scholarship practice papers with worked answers, so a student can practise on paper under the clock the way the real test is sat.

Browse selective and scholarship packs →

Questions? Call 03 9509 3293 or book a free consultation. RHZ Tutoring, 17/47 Apex Drive, Truganina VIC 3029.

Frequently asked questions

When is the 2027 Victorian Selective Entry exam?

School communications give the date as 20 June 2027 for Year 8 students seeking Year 9 entry in 2028. Dates and application windows can move, so confirm on the Victorian Selective Entry High Schools (VSEHS) website before planning around it.

Which schools does the Selective Entry exam cover?

Melbourne High School (boys, South Yarra), Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (girls, Melbourne), Nossal High School (co-educational, Berwick) and Suzanne Cory High School (co-educational, Werribee). Students sit one exam and list the schools in order of preference.

Is this practice test the same as the real exam?

No. It is a 30-question, 25-minute multiple-choice sample drawn from our Year 6, 7 and 8 maths and English banks at the stretch and challenge tiers. The real ACER and Edutest scholarship tests include writing tasks and, for Edutest, separate verbal and numerical reasoning sections. Use this page to check readiness and pace, not to predict a result.

What score should my child be getting?

There is no official pass mark and we do not publish percentiles for a free sample. As a rule of thumb, 80% or more here suggests a student is ready for full-length timed practice; 50% or less suggests starting with the Year 6 and Year 7 topic quizzes to secure the foundations first.

Does the timer matter?

Yes. Both selective-entry and scholarship tests are speed tests as much as knowledge tests, and most students lose more marks to the clock than to the content. If the score is good but the time ran out, practise timed sets; if there was time to spare but the score was low, work on the content.

What is the difference between ACER and Edutest scholarship tests?

Both are used by independent schools for Year 7 entry (sat in Year 6) and some for Year 9 or Year 11 entry. ACER's Cooperative Scholarship Testing Program has longer papers in written expression, humanities (reading and interpretation) and mathematics. Edutest papers are shorter and include five sections: verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, reading comprehension, mathematics and written expression. Check which test each school uses.

Is this free, and is anything collected?

It is free and there is no sign-up. Marking happens on our server and only an anonymous score event is recorded. The free Skills Check, which produces a full report, asks for a parent email so we can send it.

Build the foundations first

If the result points to a content gap, these free topic quizzes cover the ground the test draws on:

All 3,261 free practice questions, Prep to Year 12 →