SELECTIVE SCHOOL TEST Q&A THREAD
What is this thread for?If you have general questions about Selective School Tests or how to improve in certain areas, this is the place to ask!
Who can/will answer questions?Everyone is welcome to contribute; even if you're unsure of yourself, providing different perspectives is incredibly valuable.
Please don't be dissuaded by the fact that you haven't finished Year 12, or didn't score as highly as others, or your advice contradicts something else you've seen on this thread, or whatever; none of this disqualifies you from helping others. And if you're worried you
do have some sort of misconception, put it out there and someone else can clarify and modify your understanding!
There'll be a whole bunch of other high-scoring students with their own wealths of wisdom to share with you, including TuteSmart tutors! So you may even get multiple answers from different people offering their insights - very cool.
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Hi All (particularly people who did the Victorian selective exam last year),
I am doing the SHS test this year to go to Nossal High school, from year 8 to year 9. Like last year, the test has been postponed three times already and the writing has been taken out. The date has not been confirmed yet, but it is soon and I think it will go ahead now because they cant postpone it more than November and the vaccine rates are high. I was wanting to ask some questions regarding the exam:
1. What would be a good score for the exams? I know that the test is only compared with other students, but is there some passing score or a number of superiors you need to obtain in order to get in? Can you get in with only 1 or 2?
2. Is it true that the reasoning exams (numeric and verbal) are worth more than the achievement tests (maths and reading comp)?
3. What tuitions are good? I go to a less-known tuition, North shore coaching college, and James an. I feel the tests at james an are all pretty accurate except for verbal (it is quite easy), whereas north shore has easy maths/numeric tests, but the verbal/reading are reasonably accurate. I read that James An has accurate maths and numerical, and hendersons has accurate reading/verbal.
4. Is james an similar to the real exam - is it harder or easier etc? I heard that james an is easy and hendersons is harder than it, but is that true? Also, has anyone else gone to north shore coaching college before?
5. Could anybody who has done the exam before please make a short test of 5 questions for the 4 subjects that would suit how the real test is? If not, could you at least tell me how hard they are?
6. For maths, I have heard different things at different places - some say all you need to know is basic year 9 math (like pythagoras, basic trig, statistics like mean, mode, IQR etc , factorising, quadratic graphs and financial interest). Others say that you need to spend ages studying for it and only got raw scores of 35/60 or so.
7. For reading comp, both my tuitions make it quite hard, but everywhere I read that it is so easy in the test and the texts were pretty short? The test should be similar to the 2020 one because there are similar circumstances, right?
8. What is the hardest test of the lot? How is the best way to study for it? I have got some notes for maths and have some word definitions for verbal, which I ask my parents to test me on? How can you study for numerical (I heard you can't really study for it)
9. Lastly (sorry if this entire post is long-winded), since there are only 4 subjects now, if you get only 2 superiors, do you have a chance of getting in?
Could someone who got in please post their scores if you would feel comfortable to? I would really appreciate a quick response as the exam is drawing very near. Thank you! :) :D
Hi All (particularly people who did the Victorian selective exam last year),
I am doing the SHS test this year to go to Nossal High school, from year 8 to year 9. Like last year, the test has been postponed three times already and the writing has been taken out. The date has not been confirmed yet, but it is soon and I think it will go ahead now because they cant postpone it more than November and the vaccine rates are high. I was wanting to ask some questions regarding the exam:
1. What would be a good score for the exams? I know that the test is only compared with other students, but is there some passing score or a number of superiors you need to obtain in order to get in? Can you get in with only 1 or 2?
2. Is it true that the reasoning exams (numeric and verbal) are worth more than the achievement tests (maths and reading comp)?
3. What tuitions are good? I go to a less-known tuition, North shore coaching college, and James an. I feel the tests at james an are all pretty accurate except for verbal (it is quite easy), whereas north shore has easy maths/numeric tests, but the verbal/reading are reasonably accurate. I read that James An has accurate maths and numerical, and hendersons has accurate reading/verbal.
4. Is james an similar to the real exam - is it harder or easier etc? I heard that james an is easy and hendersons is harder than it, but is that true? Also, has anyone else gone to north shore coaching college before?
5. Could anybody who has done the exam before please make a short test of 5 questions for the 4 subjects that would suit how the real test is? If not, could you at least tell me how hard they are?
6. For maths, I have heard different things at different places - some say all you need to know is basic year 9 math (like pythagoras, basic trig, statistics like mean, mode, IQR etc , factorising, quadratic graphs and financial interest). Others say that you need to spend ages studying for it and only got raw scores of 35/60 or so.
7. For reading comp, both my tuitions make it quite hard, but everywhere I read that it is so easy in the test and the texts were pretty short? The test should be similar to the 2020 one because there are similar circumstances, right?
8. What is the hardest test of the lot? How is the best way to study for it? I have got some notes for maths and have some word definitions for verbal, which I ask my parents to test me on? How can you study for numerical (I heard you can't really study for it)
9. Lastly (sorry if this entire post is long-winded), since there are only 4 subjects now, if you get only 2 superiors, do you have a chance of getting in?
Could someone who got in please post their scores if you would feel comfortable to? I would really appreciate a quick response as the exam is drawing very near. Thank you! :) :D
Hey there! I'm also doing the test this year and have been digging through the internet and talking with family friends about it, so i feel like I can answer some of your questions.
1) From what I recall they just take the best number of students that they can fill in (and the 5% percent rule applies). If there are 100 spots in Nossal then they will send invitations to the best 100 people.
6) you will need to be confident in year 9 mathematics, particularly in geometry as that is a huge chunk of the questions. Since most people get stumped by the maths section people get superiors with 25/60 correct from what I've heard. Since there are more people taking the test this year, I'm guessing it'll be a little bit harder to get superiors across the board.
7) Some people are better at different subjects. I read pretty slowly when I'm stressed so I struggled in the practice test. Some people say its really hard and others say its quite easy. It really depends on you. In terms of the test itself, they might alter the test or they might make it harder to make up for the writing test.
8) Again, this comes down to you. For me the hardest one would've been the writing one (but thats gone now). The easiest one you can study for is the mathematics test just go through a year 9 maths book. You're not entirely wrong when you say that you can't study for numerical, as this requires logical thinking that you build up over time. If you're the kind of person who wakes up doing sudoku puzzles or some weird math riddle, then you'll probably be fine. Just know about patterns and quick mental arithmetic. For verbal, you'll need a decently large vocabulary, which is also built up over time. Get in the habit of reading the paper every day and pick out new words and know they meanings. For comp, this depends on how fast you read and how quickly you can absorb what is happening. It might be a bit late for studying for verbal/comp/numerical, although you can quickly get through Khan Academy courses if you study for long enough.
9) Depends on the number of students who take the test and how well they do.
Hope this helps!
Also, where did you hear that the writing test was cancelled?
Hi All (particularly people who did the Victorian selective exam last year),
I am doing the SHS test this year to go to Nossal High school, from year 8 to year 9. Like last year, the test has been postponed three times already and the writing has been taken out. The date has not been confirmed yet, but it is soon and I think it will go ahead now because they cant postpone it more than November and the vaccine rates are high. I was wanting to ask some questions regarding the exam:
1. What would be a good score for the exams? I know that the test is only compared with other students, but is there some passing score or a number of superiors you need to obtain in order to get in? Can you get in with only 1 or 2?
2. Is it true that the reasoning exams (numeric and verbal) are worth more than the achievement tests (maths and reading comp)?
6. For maths, I have heard different things at different places - some say all you need to know is basic year 9 math (like pythagoras, basic trig, statistics like mean, mode, IQR etc , factorising, quadratic graphs and financial interest). Others say that you need to spend ages studying for it and only got raw scores of 35/60 or so.
7. For reading comp, both my tuitions make it quite hard, but everywhere I read that it is so easy in the test and the texts were pretty short? The test should be similar to the 2020 one because there are similar circumstances, right?
8. What is the hardest test of the lot? How is the best way to study for it? I have got some notes for maths and have some word definitions for verbal, which I ask my parents to test me on? How can you study for numerical (I heard you can't really study for it)
9. Lastly (sorry if this entire post is long-winded), since there are only 4 subjects now, if you get only 2 superiors, do you have a chance of getting in?
Could someone who got in please post their scores if you would feel comfortable to? I would really appreciate a quick response as the exam is drawing very near. Thank you! :) :D
Hey, I'm a little late but I got into MGHS with 3/4 superiors last year so I'll try to help as best as I can, its been a while tho so my facts might be off.
1. I remember my tutor saying that if you get 80% on all your 4 tests it gives you a really good chance at getting a superior but do keep in mind that its best to aim for 100% and that getting an 80% on all your tests does NOT guarantee that you'll get in. In the end it depends on how well your cohort performed. A lot of the girls were offered a spot even though they received no superiors however, they received above averages in all their tests and it was a last round offer so I'd say aiming for 3 or 4 superiors is the safest thing to do for a first round offer.
2. I don't think this is true. It is common knowledge though, that numerical and verbal are significantly harder tests for many people so its an advantage if you excel in those subjects.
6. For maths I personally just went through the whole year 9 and 10 math book by myself and had my tutor explain the concepts that I didn't understand. I was told that there would be year 10 concepts in the test but I was surprised on the day that the math test was relatively simple and had basic year 9 math skills. If you're confident with trig, linear, Pythagoras and basic quadratics along with measurement, algebra , etc, I think you'll be more than alright.
7. The reading comprehension test had texts that were short and easy to interpret. This may not have had anything to do with the Covid-19 situation but if it did then It would be safe to assume that you will probably get a similar format but it's best to prepare using longer texts just incase they make the test difficult. Keep in mind that if the test is easy it will be harder for you to score a superior since everyone else will do well in it too.
8. Numerical was the hardest for me since there wasn't a certain guide I could follow to study for it unlike maths and reading. My best advice would be to get ahold of a practice paper and write down the different question types in it and try to find worksheets online that have a similar layout.
9. I would say that there is a good change of you getting in with two superiors since many of my friends at mghs got in with 2 superiors last year but a close friend of mine from my old school was not offered a place since she got an average in one of her tests even though she received 2 superiors. So, the main thing would be to focus on getting the highest mark that you can and making sure you don't get averages.
I hope this helped a bit, if you have any more questions feel free to ask me :)