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 50526 · New set of questions →

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Section 1: Maths reasoning (15 questions)

Question 1
Maths reasoning · Fractions, decimals & percentages

Calculate: 3/4 ÷ 1/2.

Question 2
Maths reasoning · Area & volume

A water tank is a cylinder with an internal radius of 1.5 m and an internal height of 2 m. A builder says the tank holds more than 14 000 litres. Is the builder correct? (Use π ≈ 3.14; 1 m³ = 1000 L.)

Question 3
Maths reasoning · Ratio & rates

A school buys red and blue pens in the ratio 4 : 3. After the teacher gives away 12 red pens, the ratio of red pens to blue pens becomes 1 : 1. How many blue pens did the school buy?

Question 4
Maths reasoning · Fractions, decimals & percentages

Lena saves 3/8 of her weekly pocket money. Her friend Joel saves 37.5% of his weekly pocket money. Joel receives $56 per week and Lena receives $48 per week. Who saves more money each week, and by how much?

Question 5
Maths reasoning · Indices

Simplify: (2⁴ × 8) ÷ 4³, giving your answer as a power of 2.

Question 6
Maths reasoning · Geometry

A right-angled triangle is removed from a rectangle. The rectangle is 10 cm long and 6 cm wide. The triangle occupies one corner and has legs of 4 cm (along the length) and 6 cm (along the width — the full width). A second right-angled triangle of the same size is then added onto the opposite short end of the rectangle. What is the area of the new shape?

Question 7
Maths reasoning · Integers

Calculate: −4 × 3.

Question 8
Maths reasoning · Equations

A plumber charges a $45 call-out fee plus $60 per hour. An electrician charges a $75 call-out fee plus $50 per hour. For how many hours of work do they charge exactly the same total amount?

Question 9
Maths reasoning · Ratios & rates

A school canteen sells two sizes of orange juice. The small cup holds 250 mL and costs $2.00. The large cup holds 375 mL and costs $2.85. A student says: 'The large cup is better value because you get more juice for less than double the price.' Is the student's conclusion correct, and which size actually gives the better value per millilitre?

Question 10
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 11
Maths reasoning · Percentages & rates

A jacket is discounted by 30%, then the sale price is increased by 30%. Compared to the original price, the final price is:

Question 12
Maths reasoning · Fraction & decimal operations

Olivia is tiling a rectangular floor. The floor is 3 3/4 metres long and 2 2/5 metres wide. Tiles cost $8 per square metre. What is the total cost to tile the floor?

Question 13
Maths reasoning · Percentages & rates

A price rises by 25% and then falls by 25%. A price falls by 25% and then rises by 25%. Which statement is correct?

Question 14
Maths reasoning · Fraction & decimal operations

Calculate: 2/3 × 3/4.

Question 15
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?

Section 2: Reading & language (15 questions)

Question 16
Reading & language · Reading & comprehension

A student reading a novel writes: 'The theme of this book is loyalty because a character called Loyalty appears.' What is wrong with the student's reasoning?

Question 17
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student revises the conclusion of her persuasive essay on compulsory sport in schools. Original: 'In conclusion, compulsory sport is good for students and schools should keep it.' Revision: 'The choice is simple: we either invest in students' physical and mental wellbeing now, or we pay a far greater price later. Compulsory sport is not a burden — it is a foundation.' Her teacher says the revision is 'significantly more persuasive'. Which analysis BEST explains why the revision is stronger, and identifies a potential weakness?

Question 18
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

A student is asked to write a text response about a novel and begins: "In this essay I will talk about the themes of the book and give my opinion about the characters." Which revision BEST improves this opening sentence for a formal text response?

Question 19
Reading & language · Speaking & listening

A panel discussion has four speakers. After each person speaks, the next speaker begins with 'Building on what [name] said...' and then adds a new idea. By the end of the discussion, the group has developed a position that no single speaker had at the start. Which speaking and listening skill does this best demonstrate?

Question 20
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read this student sentence: 'Running down the hallway, the trophy was knocked off the shelf by Marcus.' A grammar teacher marks it as containing a dangling modifier. Which version correctly fixes the error AND keeps Marcus as the one running?

Question 21
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

Two students write about the same issue — plastic pollution — for a school newspaper. Student A writes: 'Plastic waste is a growing environmental problem that scientists and governments must address urgently.' Student B writes: 'Our oceans are drowning in plastic while governments fiddle and scientists debate. Who will speak for the fish?' Which statement BEST explains how the second text reveals a stronger bias?

Question 22
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

In the sentence 'The principal announced that the students, exhausted after the long camp, were to be given a free period', what is the grammatical function of 'exhausted after the long camp'?

Question 23
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read this passage: "The city gleamed in the brochure photos — wide boulevards, smiling faces, fountains. Amara arrived to find cracked footpaths, shuttered shops, and a fountain filled with leaves." A student says the author uses contrast to criticise tourism advertising. Which explanation best supports this interpretation?

Question 24
Reading & language · Reading & comprehension

Read this passage from a short story: 'Della counted the coins on the bench three times, then pushed them into her pocket without looking at them again. At the school canteen, she joined the queue, got to the front, and ordered a water. She sat at the far end of the lunch table and laughed at everything anyone said, even loudly, even when she had not quite heard the joke.' Which statement best explains what Della is feeling, and how do you know?

Question 25
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 26
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student writes this paragraph in a persuasive essay about fast fashion: 'Fast fashion is destroying the planet. Young people especially need to stop buying cheap clothes. We all know this is true, and anyone who shops at fast fashion stores is just being selfish.' A teacher comments: 'Your evidence is missing and your appeal to your audience is likely to backfire.' Which revision strategy best addresses BOTH problems the teacher has identified?

Question 27
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read these two passages. Passage A: "The new stadium will bring thousands of jobs and inject millions of dollars into our local economy. It is exactly what this city needs." Passage B: "Construction of the proposed stadium is projected to create approximately 1,200 permanent positions and generate an estimated $40 million annually in economic activity, according to an independent economic report." Which statement best explains how the two passages differ in the way they present information?

Question 28
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 29
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student's persuasive essay on zoo closures includes this sentence: 'Zoos imprison innocent animals for human entertainment.' His teacher says this sentence is persuasive but 'relies entirely on emotional appeal'. Which revision adds a LOGICAL appeal WITHOUT removing the emotional effect?

Question 30
Reading & language · Reading & comprehension

A writer describes a bushfire using short, sharp sentences throughout a paragraph, then finishes with one long sentence that lists every animal that escaped into the creek. What effect does this structural choice most likely create?

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 →