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Revision for MHS exam,Year 9.

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ab10120:
Greetings Everybody.

I'm a year 8 student who will sit the MHS exam in the upcoming 6-7 weeks. I'm going to dedicate half of the remaining time 'till the exam date revising. I was wondering if anyone had tips for revision or/and what they personally found hard on the exam,(so i can work on those areas more and study/revise them throughly),any advice would be grate. Thanks!!  ;D

IndefatigableLover:
Have a look on this board. This is generally where most selectve school questions are asked and you can find many things here.

There are also some guides floating around like pi's guide here: Selective School Exam Tips and Strategies
For Year 9 Intake

Revision wise: Do the practice tests on the DEECD. It'll help you get into the feel of the exam even though the questions are a tad easier (Maths based from my memory). It'll also give you a good indication of what to actually study for it if you aren't taking tutoring for this exam. The questions in Maths that they give you can be worked out but are tough to work out in ~30 seconds (average). I remember I had to take ~10 guesses for the both maths exam due to time and difficulty of questions. However, if you're a strong Maths orientated student then you shouldn't have a lot of trouble dealing with the questions. Also draw diagrams... it helps for some questions (E.g All slugs are slicks...)

English Comprehension: Read the questions first then read the text. 30 minutes for 60 questions for English Comprehension is really dodgy... The texts are generally page length with 5-10 questions for each section so read the questions first!

Verbal Reasoning: Not too difficult but in most cases you'll have to pick out the odd word. Rather than trying to find the 'minority', look at  the given answers and find how they are related. If you find a link between two answers then you'll find the others. Work with the 'majority' rather than the 'minority' for those questions.

Writing: Markers are lenient but if your grammar and spelling aren't up to scratch then it'll drag your marks down a lot. Use planning time wisely and don't hesitate to go with your gut instinct for writing. Again if you're strong in Writing then this will be a breeze for you but if you struggle in English then just work on grammar and learn how to formulate ideas quickly. Execution is the key.

Two things to mention are mental strength and educated guesses. You'll find that when put in big situations, some people succumb to pressure. I've seen people I know who should of made MHS/Mac.Rob but couldn't work in pressure situations and ultimately did not perform as they would of. If you can work in pressure situations and not panic then you've won half the battle already.
You'll also find that you will have to guess for some questions due to time or simply because you don't know the answer. Rather than taking a stab in the dark where you have ~20-25% chance of getting it, eliminate answers which you know that are wrong and then guess so that you have a better chance of getting the question right. Back when I did the test, for each multiple choice exam, I had to guess on average 10 questions (which is 1/6 of the exam). Unless you are absolutely running out of time, try educated guesses. If not then just go with 'B' or 'c' LOL (even though it's overrated) XD

Good luck on your exam and if you have any questions then do feel free to PM me :)

ab10120:
IndefatigableLover, thanks for the advice. I have done the practice exams on DCEED website and I found the English easier than the maths. My grammar is O.K but I need to work on spelling. There is lots of competition at my school,(like 30 students that stand a chance). Anyway I'm really grateful for your advice and revision tips, they are very helpful.

Sach1_K:
For the maths tests just try improve your speed try to get through the whole paper. Usually you will find the last questions on the paper very easy.
For verbal reasoning the way I prepared for it was learning as many words as possible. I learnt like a words a day and wrote it in a book and revised them often.
I can't remember much for reading comprension.
For the analytical do something like 30 seconds reading the topic a minute planning 12 and half minutes writing and 1 min checking.
Even though you can't use a digital watch you can set  your watch to 12 am and just click on the button thingy on the right when your time starts so it's easier to see how much time you have left.
If you don't finish the essays on time I wouldn't advise it but you could probably write a few words in after they say pens down. The girl next to me in the exam kept on writing after pens down and the person that collected the paper just smiled at her and said no more, and kept going.

Butterscotch:
Heads up:

The dodgiest thing last year for the essays was, they didn't let us plan. "You won't have enough time to plan, so there is no spare paper given to you" - What the lady on the speaker said. Just incase they pull out something like this, try to plan your structure and ideas in your head; it'll help even if they give you spare paper.

Also, for the multiple-choice questions no spare pape is given, instead they tell you to use the back of the answer sheet, be wary it's only an A4 piece.

What Sach1_K said is right, some people around you still continue writing their written expression tests even after the time. However, if you cannot finish your essays, try "..." to add a suspensive touch to the text, although this doesn't work in all cases, keep it in the back of your head, just incase! Start with the basics for the written tests; spelling, grammar and vocabulary. Here's a link -> How to write an analytical/creative essay in 15 mins?

Try your best, and good luck! :)

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