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 59653 · New set of questions →

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Section 1: Maths reasoning (15 questions)

Question 1
Maths reasoning · Geometry

Four lines meet at a single point, creating 8 angles. Two of the angles are each 40° and are vertically opposite. Another pair of vertically opposite angles are each 70°. If all 8 angles together must add to 360°, what is the size of each of the remaining two equal angles?

Question 2
Maths reasoning · Area & volume

Four identical small cubes, each with side length 3 cm, are stacked in a single column to form one tall rectangular prism. The surface area of the tall prism is how much LESS than the total surface area of all four cubes separately?

Question 3
Maths reasoning · Algebraic expressions

A rectangular garden has a length that is (2w + 5) metres and a width of w metres. A gardener says: 'The area of the garden is 3w + 5 square metres.' Which statement best explains why the gardener is wrong?

Question 4
Maths reasoning · Ratio & rates

Paint is mixed using red, blue, and yellow in the ratio 2 : 5 : 3. A painter has 80 mL of red paint and wants to use all of it. How much blue paint is needed, and what is the TOTAL amount of paint mixed?

Question 5
Maths reasoning · Algebra & linear equations

Lena has x dollars. Marco has three times as much as Lena. After Marco gives Lena $20, they have the same amount. How much did Lena start with?

Question 6
Maths reasoning · Fraction & decimal operations

Which fraction is exactly halfway between 1/3 and 5/6 on a number line?

Question 7
Maths reasoning · Statistics & probability

A data set of 6 values has a mean of 12. When one value is removed, the mean of the remaining 5 values becomes 11. What was the value that was removed?

Question 8
Maths reasoning · Fractions, decimals & percentages

A sports shop buys a basketball at wholesale and sells it at a 30% mark-up. When the season ends, the shop discounts the selling price by 30%. A student says the final sale price equals the original wholesale price because '+30% then −30% cancel out.' The wholesale price was $80. What is the final sale price, and is the student correct?

Question 9
Maths reasoning · Integers

Calculate: 3 − (−4).

Question 10
Maths reasoning · Area, volume & angles

A composite shape is made of a rectangle 10 cm wide and 6 cm tall, with a right-angled triangle sitting on top. The triangle has a base of 10 cm and a height of 4 cm. What is the total area of the shape?

Question 11
Maths reasoning · Integers

On Monday the temperature was −5°C. By Wednesday it had fallen by 3°C, and by Friday it had doubled from Wednesday's temperature. What was Friday's temperature?

Question 12
Maths reasoning · Ratios & rates

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

Question 13
Maths reasoning · Probability

A spinner is spun twice. The probability of landing on yellow on any single spin is 0.4. After spinning twice, a student records the result. Which of the following is the correct probability of landing on yellow at least once in the two spins?

Question 14
Maths reasoning · Indices

Which expression is equal to 4⁻³ ÷ 2⁻⁴?

Question 15
Maths reasoning · Indices

If 4ˣ = 32, what is the value of x?

Section 2: Reading & language (15 questions)

Question 16
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read the following: 'The report was, needless to say, absolutely flawless.' A student claims the phrase 'needless to say' is redundant because the word 'absolutely' already emphasises the point. Is the student correct?

Question 17
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 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 · Comprehension

Read this passage. "In the 1850s, thousands of people travelled to Victoria to search for gold. Many came from China, walking hundreds of kilometres from ports in South Australia to avoid a tax imposed at Victorian ports. The routes they walked became known as the Chinese immigration trails. Some communities along these routes grew rapidly; others were left behind as the gold rush moved on." Which inference is best supported by the passage?

Question 20
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student wants to persuade readers that social media should not be banned for teenagers. She drafts this concession paragraph: 'Of course, some teenagers misuse social media. However, banning it entirely would be like banning cars because some drivers speed.' What does the analogy in the second sentence add to the argument that a simple 'however' clause would not?

Question 21
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student is writing a persuasive essay arguing that teenagers should be allowed to vote at 16. She writes this body paragraph: 'Sixteen-year-olds can drive, pay taxes, and leave school — yet they cannot vote on the laws that govern all these choices. This is not a privilege we are asking for. It is a right that logic demands.' She then begins her next paragraph with a new argument. What is the most significant structural weakness in this paragraph?

Question 22
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read this passage from a school news article: 'The canteen upgrade was completed on time. The new equipment is said to be state of the art. A spokesperson noted that students will benefit enormously. The school community is excited for the future.' A critical reader notices that the article never includes a student voice. Which statement best explains what this omission reveals about the article's perspective?

Question 23
Reading & language · Speaking & listening

During a student debate, Aisha uses a calm, measured tone even while making very strong claims. Her opponent uses an increasingly urgent, passionate tone as the debate continues. Which analysis of their vocal choices is most accurate?

Question 24
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student is writing a persuasive speech and includes this passage: 'Imagine waking up to find your local park has become a car park. Imagine your children asking where the trees went. Imagine a city where every patch of green has been paved over.' A classmate says, 'You should cut two of those sentences — they're repetitive.' The student disagrees. Who is correct, and why?

Question 25
Reading & language · Writing & grammar

A student writes this paragraph in a persuasive essay: 'Many scientists agree that reducing plastic use is important. However, plastic is cheap and easy to produce. Therefore, we should all use less plastic.' A teacher says the paragraph has a structural logic problem. Which statement BEST identifies the flaw?

Question 26
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 27
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 28
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

A student is learning about words derived from the Latin root 'scrib'/'script' (meaning 'to write'). She writes these four sentences and underlines a word in each: 1. The doctor gave her a 'prescription' for the medicine. 2. The journalist wrote a 'manuscript' by hand. 3. The teacher asked them to 'transcribe' the passage. 4. The ancient carvings were an 'inscription' on the stone. She claims: 'Because the root means to write, the silent letters in these words all come from the same Latin root and must always be spelled -scr-.' A classmate challenges her, saying that 'manuscript' is different because its meaning comes from TWO Latin roots, and so the spelling rule she stated does not fully apply. Which option CORRECTLY evaluates both claims?

Question 29
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

A student is editing her essay and has this sentence: 'The government's new policy, which critics argue ignores long-term environmental consequences, aims to boost short-term economic growth.' She wants to make the government's aim sound more central and reduce the prominence of the criticism. Which revision BEST achieves this?

Question 30
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?

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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 →