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.

Start the practice test ↓   Or take the free 15-minute Skills Check →

⏱ 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 32808 · New set of questions →

Time remaining 25:00Not started

Section 1: Maths reasoning (15 questions)

Question 1
Maths reasoning · Integers & operations

Which expression has the greatest value? A: −3 × (−4) − 2 B: −3 × 4 + 20 C: 3 × (−4) + 14 D: (−3 + 4) × (−6)

Question 2
Maths reasoning · Equations

The equation 5(x − 2) = 3x + 4 is solved below. Which step contains the FIRST error? Step 1: 5x − 10 = 3x + 4 Step 2: 5x − 3x = 4 + 10 Step 3: 2x = 14 Step 4: x = 5

Question 3
Maths reasoning · Area, volume & angles

A triangular prism has a triangular face with base 6 cm and height 4 cm. The prism is 10 cm long. What is the volume of the prism?

Question 4
Maths reasoning · Percentages

15 is 10% of what number?

Question 5
Maths reasoning · Percentages

Three friends each start with a different amount of pocket money. Ava's amount increases by 20%. Ben's amount increases by 50% and then decreases by 20%. Charlie's amount decreases by 10% and then increases by 30%. Which statement about their overall percentage change is correct?

Question 6
Maths reasoning · Area & volume

A rectangular swimming pool is 12 m long and 5 m wide. It is filled with water to a depth of 1.5 m. Water costs $2.40 per kilolitre (1 kL = 1 m³). How much does it cost to fill the pool?

Question 7
Maths reasoning · Probability

A class has 25 students. Each student studies either French or Japanese or both. 14 students study French and 16 students study Japanese. A student is chosen at random. What is the probability that the student studies BOTH French and Japanese?

Question 8
Maths reasoning · Algebra & linear equations

The formula for the nth term of a sequence is T(n) = 5n − 3. A student says the term value 72 appears in this sequence. Is the student correct, and why?

Question 9
Maths reasoning · Statistics & probability

A data set has five values: 4, 7, 9, 12, and one unknown value k. The median of the five values is 9 and the mean is 10. What is the value of k?

Question 10
Maths reasoning · Pythagoras

The three vertices of a triangle are at P(0, 0), Q(6, 0), and R(2, 4) on a coordinate grid. A student wants to check if the triangle is right-angled. After calculating all three side lengths, which conclusion is correct?

Question 11
Maths reasoning · Ratio & rates

A farmer plants wheat and canola in the ratio 5 : 3. The wheat paddock covers 40 hectares more than the canola paddock. What is the total area planted?

Question 12
Maths reasoning · Indices

A bacteria culture doubles every hour. At 9 am there are 2⁵ bacteria. How many bacteria are there at 1 pm the same day, expressed as a power of 2?

Question 13
Maths reasoning · Algebraic expressions

A shop sells pens in packs of 3 and rulers in packs of 5. A teacher buys p packs of pens and r packs of rulers and spends exactly $40. Pens cost $2 per pack and rulers cost $6 per pack. Which equation correctly models this situation, and what does it mean if p = 2?

Question 14
Maths reasoning · Algebraic thinking

Solve: 2x + 1 = 9.

Question 15
Maths reasoning · Algebraic expressions

If x = 4, find x² − 2x.

Section 2: Reading & language (15 questions)

Question 16
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Which sentence uses an apostrophe correctly?

Question 17
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

Two newspaper editorials cover the same climate protest. Editorial 1 says protesters 'gathered peacefully to raise their concerns.' Editorial 2 says protesters 'swarmed the streets, bringing the city to a standstill.' Which statement best explains how Editorial 2's word choice reveals bias?

Question 18
Reading & language · Writing & grammar

Read these two versions of the same sentence: Version 1: 'The cyclist was awarded the gold medal by the judges.' Version 2: 'The judges awarded the cyclist the gold medal.' A student claims both versions mean the same thing and have the same effect. Which statement about this claim is MOST accurate?

Question 19
Reading & language · Speaking & listening

A student gives a speech opposing homework. She uses only personal anecdotes and no facts or statistics. Her classmate gives a rebuttal using three published studies. Which explanation best describes why the rebuttal is more persuasive in a formal speaking context?

Question 20
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read the following two sentences: Sentence A: 'The coach told the players that they needed to improve.' Sentence B: 'The coach told the players, "You need to improve."' A student says both sentences mean exactly the same thing and have no grammatical differences. Which statement best explains why the student is wrong?

Question 21
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read: "The old man fed the pigeons every morning without fail. The park felt emptier on the day he did not come." A student says this passage uses contrast to create sadness. Is this correct, and why?

Question 22
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Which sentence uses a colon correctly and for the most precise grammatical reason?

Question 23
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read these two openings from different texts about the same bushfire event. Text 1: 'The bushfire destroyed 1 200 hectares of forest and 34 homes before it was contained on Thursday.' Text 2: 'Families watched in horror as walls of flame swallowed everything they had built over a lifetime.' Which statement best explains how the two texts position the reader differently?

Question 24
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 25
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage, then answer the question. "Declan had told everyone he did not care whether he got the lead role in the play. When the cast list went up, he arrived at the noticeboard last, walking slowly, looking at his phone. He glanced at the list once, nodded, and walked away. At lunch he sat alone and ate nothing." The passage does not directly state how Declan feels about the cast list result. What does the sequence of his actions most strongly imply?

Question 26
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read this passage: "Maya stood at the edge of the stage, the spotlight burning into her eyes. She had waited three years for this moment. Her hands were ice. Her heart was thunder." A student says the short final sentences show that Maya is clumsy. Why is this interpretation weak?

Question 27
Reading & language · Writing & grammar

A writer wants to show that a character feels nervous but is trying to hide it. Which sentence does this BEST?

Question 28
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

A student wants to add the suffix '-ous' to the word 'courage' to make an adjective. Which option shows the CORRECT spelling AND gives the correct reason?

Question 29
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read this paragraph: 'The match was brutal. The match was unforgiving. The match was everything we had trained for.' A student says the repetition of 'The match was' is a mistake because it sounds repetitive. Is the student correct, and why?

Question 30
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read these two sentences from different editorials about the same school policy: Editorial 1: 'Students will be required to wear uniforms.' Editorial 2: 'Students will be forced into uniforms.' Which analysis most precisely explains the difference in effect?

Your result

0 / 30
Maths reasoning0 / 15
Reading & language0 / 15
Time used

Take the free full Skills Check →   Try another set

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 →