For MHS/Mac.Rob/etc.:
For JMSS:
Selective schools preparation + tips and tricks
Hi I’m satinandsilk and I’ll be talking about preparation for the selective exam and tips and tricks
I sat the exam in 2019 for Mac.Rob, but unfortunately didn’t get in(got a PD though!) However, I will be sharing my experiences and tips to achieving success for the exam. (Sorry if this post gets a bit long winded or hard to understand but I hope this helps you
Basic Information about Selective schools:
- There are 4 Selective Schools in Victoria - Melbourne High(boys) Mac.Robertson Girls, Nossal and Suzanne Cory (both co-ed)
- 5% acceptance rule - only 5% of your year 8’s cohort will be accepted based on their results (highest - lowest) into ALL 4 OF THESE SCHOOLS
- These schools are meant to push you to be the best because of the cohesive student environment at selective schools
*Watch this video on how a Macrob student talks about the student environment:https://youtu.be/_NDVGemorfE
- The exam is 3-4 hours long, consists of : Verbal Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Numerical Reasoning, Mathematics and Writing(creative or persuasive)
- If you do want to to know more about the actual exam, please refer to pi’s awesome post as I will be talking about the actual preparation
Before you sit for the exam, these are some important things and questions to consider:
1. Are you achieving high 90’s in class constantly/find the school curriculum too easy? If you do, then well done
It can be a good indicator of your exam performance and preparation work ethic
2. Do you like your school/enjoy your current friends/think the school’s vce teachers and subjects offered are good enough to achieve your desired ATAR?
3. Are you participating in any extracurricular activities, or any past experiences?
Here are some important things to consider:
- there are around 3000-3300 people competing for a spot in these 4 schools
- This exam is designed to be difficult and stimulating, you should be proud of your achievements either way!
- Chances of getting in (not inclusive of PD) are difficult depending on your school’s environment regardless of your result
- E.g. School A - top public school with hardworking and smart(yes, like Stephen Hawking smart ) cohort VS School B - average to below average school with one extension/enrichment class where smart kids attend in school
- Note: The chances of getting in are significantly lower if you attend School A whilst the chances of getting in are higher if you attend School B
- Why: The students in School A most likely are naturally gifted and attend intensive tuition programs, furthermore since they are trying out for the exam, they will most likely go for selective preparation tuition and workshops for at least 6 months to 2 years, (I will talk about tuition in the next topics of this post) increasing the chance of acceptance.
- School B only has a small number of people that have a chance of getting in, hence if you do excel in that school, then the chances of getting in is significantly higher than student A.
- It is recommended that you try out in year 8 rather than year 9 as you have more spare time in year 8 to prepare and this is when 90% of the vce cohort’s admissions are made, so the chances of you getting in for yr 9 entry will be easier than for say, yr 10 or 11 entry due to the limited spots in selective schools. Trust me, getting in for yr 10 and 11 entry is much more difficult, because of the increased selection criteria and score, plus the mounting pressure for VCE preparation and schoolwork AHHH
Tuition and preparation:
- When you have a test coming up, you want to practice as much as you can to score as well as possible right?
- Since everyone tries out in yr 8, most people will go to tuition centres to perfect their skills
- It is recommended that you attend selective prep tuition as you will be competing against 3000 people who most likely have prepared tuition, especially in school (regardless of A and B ). Some people do make it in without tuition, but the safe option is to stick with tutoring. You don’t want to start behind the pack right?
- Many of the people who got selected went to either Edukingdom, James An or Hendersons (not inclusive of extra workshops or tuition classes)
- These tuition classes usually last for 3.5 hours and can range from $600 per term to $3000 for a package(Henderson’s lol)
- The entire purpose of this class is to do the mock selective papers in class,not to learn anything new, this just usually helps with exam time management
- In other words, you are expected to know the topics (i.e. yr 9/10 maths) beforehand and doing the selective papers will just improve your performance over time
- For me, I did not attend any selective tuition but had regular maths and English tuition. I do regret not joining these classes as they would’ve helped my performance and possibly getting in
- If you do choose not to go for any tuition, you still need to familiarise yourself with the material as this is what all 3000 of the competitors will be assessed on
- For me, I had exam material to practice on at home and I used Singapore Maths books to get my head around the concepts for the maths component of the exam. Plus I had the help of my maths tutor to explain the concepts which I didn’t get when I practiced the material at home
Additional Maths 360 Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Additional-Maths-360-Yan-Cheong/dp/9810117485 https://www.tuitionkenneth.com/additional-maths-360-solutions- For english, I had exam material to practice on and I attended Tye & English’s <Reading Newspapers> module, prior to the exam. This enabled me to think critically, expand my vocabulary, gain general knowledge(good for PD interview),read information faster(key for the exam), come up with more logical and relatable ideas for persuasive essays.
- Note: Some tests can be improved over time and some are just your raw ability which can be much harder to improve compared to plain practice
Exam info
- usually in June, the weekend after Queen’s Bday
- The tables are so close, you can easily look over someone’s answers and copy them
- Bring an analogue watch as you can keep track of the time
- NOTE: There is no timer projected on the screen, so you have to be fast enough to finish all the questions in time
- They will give you less than 30 minutes to complete the exam, usually 3 to 6 minutes short
- Don’t drink so much water or eat too much food. Or just race to the toilets like Usain Bolt during the 15 min break
- Get there early so you know which gate you’re entering
- (This is a bit irrelevant) After the exam you can just chill in Melbourne central lmao
Principal’s Discretion Category
- lucky ducks, congrats if you do get this
- Bear in mind that this category is not inclusive of the 5% rule - yes there can be more than 5% accepted due to PD
- This is usually awarded to contenders who were only a few marks short of the cut-off mark and are asked first, to write a letter to the principal about your achievements and extra-curricula participation, and secondly, be interviewed by the principal and someone else, and finally get awarded a place.
- Plot twist: this is even more competitive than the actual exam. I.e. for Mac.Rob, 150 people are invited to write a letter which are then short listed to 15 people for the interview, and later 13 for an offered spot.
- NOTE: from my experience, PD is for people who are all rounders in academics and extra-curricular (sport or music in or out of school). I know a friend who got into MHS who had average results (2 superiors, and high averages) got in purely because of his extracurricular achievements in sport. (He was no. 2 in cricket in Australia)
- I unfortunately did not get an interview as I did not participate in any extracurricular activities in 2019, so I won’t be able to offer any tips from then on.
Superiors:
- superiors are indications from where you stand amongst the other 3000 competitors
- A superior is to show that you are in the top 11% of your state cohort for that particular subject
- The more superiors you get the higher the chance of getting in
Here are some criteria for the selective schools:
- MHS AND MACROB: Min 3 superiors
- SUZANNE CORY AND NOSSAL: min 1 or 2
- As I was talking about Schools A and B, here’s a real life example.
- In School A, the min. superiors an accepted student achieved were 3,
- However in school B, the min. Superiors achieved were 1 or 2 for most students
I have ran out of ideas for now, but I will be updating these soon!
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