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 82026 · New set of questions →

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Section 1: Maths reasoning (15 questions)

Question 1
Maths reasoning · Statistics & probability

A bag contains only red, blue, and green counters. The probability of picking a red counter is 0.4 and the probability of picking a blue counter is 0.35. If there are 40 counters in total, how many green counters are there?

Question 2
Maths reasoning · Algebraic thinking

If 3 × ☐ − 5 = ☐ + 7, and both boxes represent the same unknown number, what is the value of the unknown number?

Question 3
Maths reasoning · Pythagoras

Two flag poles stand on flat ground. One is 8 m tall and the other is 3 m tall. They are 12 m apart (measured along the ground). A wire runs straight from the top of the taller pole to the top of the shorter pole. How long is the wire, correct to one decimal place?

Question 4
Maths reasoning · Percentages

Luca says: 'Increasing a price by 10% and then decreasing it by 10% gives you the original price.' Is Luca correct?

Question 5
Maths reasoning · Algebraic expressions

A rectangle has a length that is 5 more than three times its width. If the width is w cm, which expression gives the perimeter of the rectangle?

Question 6
Maths reasoning · Probability

A spinner has three sections coloured red, blue, and green. The probability of landing on red is 0.45 and the probability of landing on blue is twice the probability of landing on green. What is the probability of landing on blue?

Question 7
Maths reasoning · Area & volume

A cylinder has a volume of 502.4 cm³ and a height of 10 cm. Using π ≈ 3.14, what is the radius of the cylinder?

Question 8
Maths reasoning · Area, volume & angles

A triangular prism has a right-angled triangular face with legs 6 cm and 8 cm. The prism is 12 cm long. A rectangular prism 4 cm × 3 cm × 12 cm is cut away from inside the solid. What is the volume of the remaining solid?

Question 9
Maths reasoning · Algebraic thinking

A garden bed is built using square tiles. The total number of tiles T follows the rule T = 4n + 8, where n is the pattern number. Riley says: 'The first pattern that needs more than 40 tiles is pattern number 8.' Is Riley correct, and what is the value of T for that pattern?

Question 10
Maths reasoning · Ratios & rates

Two quantities P and Q are in the ratio 4 : 9. Q is 63. What is P + Q?

Question 11
Maths reasoning · Algebraic thinking

A shop sells pens for $3 each and notebooks for $5 each. Maya spends exactly $29 buying at least one of each item. How many pens does Maya buy?

Question 12
Maths reasoning · Indices

Two students simplify 4³ × 2⁵. Student A gets 8⁸ and Student B gets 2¹¹. Who is correct, and why?

Question 13
Maths reasoning · Indices

Which expression is NOT equal to 36?

Question 14
Maths reasoning · Equations

Marcus and Priya each think of a number. Marcus's number is three times Priya's number. If you subtract 8 from Marcus's number, you get twice Priya's number. What is Priya's number?

Question 15
Maths reasoning · Ratios & rates

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

Section 2: Reading & language (15 questions)

Question 16
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?

Question 17
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 18
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage, then answer the question. "The review of the school play read: 'The set design was inventive and the lighting created a genuinely eerie atmosphere in Act Two. The lead performances were energetic, if occasionally rushed. The script, however, relied too heavily on familiar jokes and offered few surprises. Audiences who enjoy community theatre will find much to appreciate, though those seeking originality may leave wanting more.'" Which sentence from the review best shows that the reviewer is giving a balanced evaluation rather than a purely positive or negative one?

Question 19
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?

Question 20
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

A student knows that 'magic' becomes 'magician' and 'music' becomes 'musician'. She applies the same pattern to write 'electrician' for someone who works with electricity. Her friend says the base word for 'electrician' is NOT 'electric' — it is 'electricity', with the '-ity' removed before adding '-an'. Which statement correctly evaluates BOTH claims?

Question 21
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Two newspaper articles report the same house fire. Article 1 headline: 'Family loses everything in tragic blaze'. Article 2 headline: 'Negligent homeowners cause street evacuation'. Which technique most clearly reveals Article 2 writer's bias, and why?

Question 22
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read this extract from a student's argument essay: "Teenagers are clearly the most responsible group in society. They manage social media, schoolwork, and part-time jobs simultaneously. If they can handle all of this, they should definitely be allowed to vote at 16." Which is the most significant weakness in this argument?

Question 23
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

A student writes this opening paragraph for a persuasive essay arguing that homework should be abolished: 'Students are drowning in homework. Every night, millions of young Australians sit alone at kitchen tables, exhausted, while their families watch TV without them.' Her teacher says the paragraph is 'vivid but one-sided'. Which revision would make the argument STRONGER without removing the emotional appeal?

Question 24
Reading & language · Reading & comprehension

A persuasive letter about protecting a local park ends with this paragraph: 'Parks do not need defending. The people who built this suburb without a single tree — they need defending. Let them explain to the children who will grow up here why cement was worth more than shade.' What makes this ending persuasive, and how does it work?

Question 25
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 26
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage. "Tomas had not told his mother about the school camp permission slip. It sat in his bag for three weeks, folded and refolded along the same crease. The deadline passed on a Thursday. On Friday morning, Tomas arrived early and offered to stack chairs for his teacher without being asked." A student claims: 'Tomas is trying to be helpful because he wants to be a better person.' Which response best evaluates this claim?

Question 27
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 28
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Two newspaper headlines report the same event — a student walkout at a school: Headline 1: 'Students Walk Out in Passionate Protest' Headline 2: 'Pupils Skip Class in Defiant Stunt' Which technique most reveals Headline 2's negative bias, and how?

Question 29
Reading & language · Speaking & listening

A student listens to two speakers give opposing arguments on whether homework should be abolished. Speaker A uses emotional stories. Speaker B uses research statistics. Afterwards, the student says, 'Both speakers made me think differently about the issue.' Which listening behaviour best explains this response?

Question 30
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

A student writes: 'The team, exhausted from the long season, were finally given their medals.' The teacher says the verb 'were' is correct here even though 'team' is a single noun. Which explanation BEST justifies the teacher's marking?

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 →