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
Hello there!
I hope that I can answer most of your questions since I have been to both James Ann and North Shore.
1) Getting 1 or 2 superiors can get you in if you go to an average school whilst competitive schools require 3-4 with an above average if you get 3. However, I request you not to think about this as this can only be affected by your performance so maybe stop thinking about this too much.
2) There was no mention of this anywhere in the website so it may or may not be true. Nevertheless, it is better to do well in everything and concentrate on everything equally.
3) James Ann is really good for tutoring however it is not all you should be doing. You should also study for yourself as it is extremely important for mathematics. Yes, the verbal reasoning may seem a bit easy, however if you study word roots and understand the definitions of unusual words, you should be fine. Also, practice those questions saying "all ifs are bifs and some bifs are gifs" etc. as they are pretty annoying. I suggest using venn diagrams for those. Now, North Shore is alright but I feel that it isn't the best and I still liked the material and books offered by James Ann. Hendersons is extremely accurate because they ask students every year on their experience and the questions they encountered right after the exam in a pizza party so I guess you should invest in a mock test or two if you can.
4) James Ann was not entirely accurate in Verbal Reasoning but was in other areas in simulation tests. Take them seriously and work on year 10 maths even though it sounds crazy since they were all over the maths test.
5) I'm a bit busy, so I can't make a mini test, but the types of questions for reading are the usual stuff but the texts you need to read are classics and also articles in the news about controversial topics. For verbal, as mentioned do the venn diagram ones, the ones where they say something like: "There was a car race. The red car came before the white car but before the silver one" etc. Obviously practice definitions for questions like: "Which word is most similar to confound?" Expect the test to be like the simulation tests but easier for reading and harder for maths. Being able to do maths well is amazing but concentrate on reading as well because if everyone finds it easy, then competition increases. Numerical reasoning, for me, was really easy. I'm very impatient and like to skip ahead and go to appealing questions which for this test is invaluable. Verbal reasoning was the second-easiest for me because I looked through my James Ann Verbal Reasoning Book while driving to the test location and I believe that I was extremely lucky.
6) Look for maths, do year 10 stuff and do the enrichment as much as possible. Know parabolas, hyperbolas, polynomials, sine and cosine rules, unit circle, tons of circle geometry, geometry as a whole, measurement and formulas, quadratic formula, completing the square, and every topic in a year 10 text book for maths. You will thank yourself if you do this and you will be fully prepared and ready for this test.
7) Maybe, maybe not. The tests may be similar but they might not. They were easy for us, but prepare for the worst just to be sure. One good thing tuitions get right is to push you and challenge you. This a great thing for any test or assignment and something you should use for school in general. Just imagine it's VCE and prepare as much as possible.
8) There is some website for Numerical Reasoning called numericalreasoning.com or something and prepare for questions which are worded and problem solving type. If you have a cambridge text book (the essential mathematics one) then I think preparing for the problem-solving section would be a good idea. Research on the internet for questions and also look at that red/blue results sheet from James Ann which shows your results to see what you need to improve on. IQ tests (the hard ones) are pretty good for your pattern recognition and prepare for the usual suspects (square patterns, cubic patterns and linear patterns). Keep an open mind for this subject because you really don't know what to expect.
9) What school did you go to? If you go to a school with SEAL (or something similar) or a well-renowned private school, aim for three superiors or more (if you go to glenny or box hill). If you go to a school with less people, still aim for three or four, but you can get in with less (although it is not a good idea to prepare for something easier).
I hope this helped you understand more about the exam and how to prepare. ;D
EDIT: I got 4 superiors out of 4.
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,
I am someone that sat the test last year and didn't get in however this year I got into mhs via year 10 entrance. In terms of what scores you need to get in it really depends on your school and the 5 percent rule. Last year I got 3 superiors and a high average and was unsuccessful in getting in. Im not too sure with the competitiveness for nossal but it is said that macrob and mhs are more competitive. The tuition I did was edukingdom, its very similar to james an. They are great tuitions in terms of providing practice tests and sort of replicating the exam however they are not the best at teaching. A lot of it comes down to you in the studying area. They really only just give you tests and then the teachers review it after. Im not entirely sure about reasoning gets more priority then the others but I heard that english is more priotised. The tests can vary a lot in terms of difficulty, some years they make it really easy and some years really hard, but one thing I can tell you is that there is a lot of problem solving and reading chunky texts. Hope this can help for ur exam.
also why did u post in a 7 year old forum lol
EDIT: lol yeh I went to glenny and its super comp you need all superiors