Free · Timed · 25 minutes · Years 6–8

Free Selective Entry Practice Test — 30 Questions, 25 Minutes, Instant Results

A free, timed sample of the kind of multiple-choice questions the Victorian Selective Entry exam asks: 30 questions across maths reasoning 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 › Selective Entry practice test · Scholarship 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 85356 · New set of questions →

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Section 1: Maths reasoning (15 questions)

Question 1
Maths reasoning · Pythagoras

An isosceles triangle has two equal sides of 10 cm and a base of 12 cm. What is the perpendicular height of the triangle, correct to one decimal place?

Question 2
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 3
Maths reasoning · Fractions, decimals & percentages

A store buys a television for a wholesale price and sells it at a 25% mark-up. During a sale, the selling price is then reduced by 25%. The final sale price is $450. What was the original wholesale price the store paid?

Question 4
Maths reasoning · Equations

Jake has some money. He spends $12 on lunch and then spends half of what is left on a book. He now has $9. How much money did Jake start with?

Question 5
Maths reasoning · Ratios & rates

Share $60 in the ratio 1 : 2 : 3. The largest share is:

Question 6
Maths reasoning · Fraction & decimal operations

Which of the following is exactly halfway between 3/8 and 3/4 on a number line?

Question 7
Maths reasoning · Indices

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

Question 8
Maths reasoning · Integers

Which expression has the greatest value?

Question 9
Maths reasoning · Fractions, decimals & percentages

A price rises by 20%, then the new price is discounted by 20%. Compared to the original price, the final price is:

Question 10
Maths reasoning · Area, volume & angles

The angles inside a quadrilateral are (2x)°, (2x)°, (x + 20)°, and (x + 40)°. What is the value of x?

Question 11
Maths reasoning · Geometry

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

Question 12
Maths reasoning · Percentages

A tank is 60% full and contains 420 litres of water. Water is added until the tank is 85% full. How many litres of water are added?

Question 13
Maths reasoning · Area, volume & angles

A rectangular swimming pool is 12 m long, 5 m wide, and 2 m deep. The pool is filled with water to exactly 75% of its total volume. How many cubic metres of water are in the pool?

Question 14
Maths reasoning · Algebra & linear equations

A formula is given as F = 3G − 7. When F is increased by 12, what happens to G?

Question 15
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:

Section 2: Reading & language (15 questions)

Question 16
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

Read these two versions of the same sentence: Version 1: 'The factory released toxic chemicals into the river.' Version 2: 'Toxic chemicals were released into the river.' A student says Version 2 is weaker because passive voice is always a grammatical mistake. Which response BEST evaluates the student's claim using grammatical and rhetorical reasoning?

Question 17
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

A student wants to combine these two sentences into one using a subordinating conjunction WITHOUT changing their meaning: Sentence 1: Lena had left the building. Sentence 2: The fire alarm went off. Which combined sentence is grammatically correct AND preserves the meaning that the fire alarm happened AFTER Lena left?

Question 18
Reading & language · Comprehension

Read this passage, then answer the question. "Two students reviewed the same novel for their school magazine. Aisha wrote: 'The story follows a refugee family navigating a new country — their courage is portrayed with warmth and authenticity.' Ben wrote: 'The novel deals with a refugee family settling in an unfamiliar place. The writing is clear and the pacing is steady, though the ending feels predictable.'" Which statement best explains how the two reviews construct different impressions of the novel?

Question 19
Reading & language · Persuasive & creative writing

Two students write opening paragraphs for a persuasive speech about whether Australia should introduce a four-day school week. Student A: 'Did you know that students in countries with shorter school weeks often outperform their peers? It is time Australia considered this option too.' Student B: 'Imagine arriving at school on Monday knowing that by Thursday afternoon, you are free — not exhausted, not burnt out, but actually ready to learn again next week. The four-day school week is not a fantasy. In dozens of countries, it is simply Tuesday.' Which analysis most precisely explains why Student B's opening is more effective as a persuasive speech introduction?

Question 20
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

A student argues that the narrator of a story is reliable because 'the story is told in first person, so the narrator knows everything that happens.' What is wrong with this reasoning?

Question 21
Reading & language · Speaking & listening

A Year 6 student is giving a speech about saving local wetlands. She says: 'You might think this is someone else's problem — but this wetland is two kilometres from our school. Some of you have ridden your bikes past it. Last spring it flooded the oval where you play footy.' Her classmates who had been distracted start paying attention. Which explanation best accounts for why this moment in her speech was effective?

Question 22
Reading & language · Speaking & listening

A student prepares a three-minute persuasive speech. She plans to use: (1) a rhetorical question to open, (2) two statistics, (3) an expert quote, and (4) a personal story to close. Her teacher says, 'Your structure is strong, but you are relying entirely on one kind of appeal.' Which statement best explains the teacher's concern?

Question 23
Reading & language · Vocabulary & grammar

A student writes: 'Neither the players nor the coach were happy with the result.' A teacher marks this incorrect. What is the error and what is the correct form?

Question 24
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

A student writes this topic sentence for a paragraph in a text response essay: 'In the novel, there are many examples of courage.' Why is this topic sentence weak for a text analysis essay?

Question 25
Reading & language · Phonics & spelling

Add 'ion' to 'decide'. It becomes?

Question 26
Reading & language · Writing & grammar

A student writes: 'The reason the experiment failed was because the temperature was not controlled.' A teacher underlines the phrase 'The reason…was because' and asks the student to correct it. The student changes it to: 'The reason the experiment failed was due to the temperature not being controlled.' Has the student fixed the problem? Why or why not?

Question 27
Reading & language · Text response & analysis

Read these two short texts about the same school funding policy: Text 1 (newspaper editorial): 'The government's decision to redirect school funding to regional areas is a courageous act of fairness, finally addressing decades of neglect.' Text 2 (parent group newsletter): 'The government's sudden funding cuts have left metropolitan schools scrambling, with programs axed and class sizes ballooning.' A student says: 'Text 2 is more biased than Text 1 because it uses emotional words like scrambling and axed.' What is the most significant flaw in this student's analysis?

Question 28
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." A student argues: 'Passage A is more persuasive than Passage B because it uses stronger, more confident language.' Which response best evaluates this argument?

Question 29
Reading & language · Reading & comprehension

A student is comparing two texts about drought. Text A is a government water management report. Text B is a poem by a farmer watching a dry creek bed. The student says: 'Text B is useless for research because it is just feelings.' Which response best evaluates this claim?

Question 30
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?

Your result

0 / 30
Maths reasoning0 / 15
Reading & language0 / 15
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What this Selective Entry 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 7 or 8 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 Selective Entry 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 Selective Entry exam runs for several hours with reasoning sections and two writing tasks. 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 →