National Education > Selective Schools Admissions Tests
Last minute tips for the selective school exams
successismygoal:
Hey,
I think that if the whole covid thing passes by June then they will make the test similar to the tests before 2020, as 2020 tests were most likely changed because the students got around 5 months extra study time and stuff. So I suggest asking successful candidates (you can ask me if u like :)) who sat the test before then.
Uber276:
Hi,
Last year I took the selective entrance exam and unfortunately could not get in despite getting 3 superiors and a high average. I think the main reason more this is because I went to a really competitive and smart school. A strategy to getting in is to just move schools so that you can have no competition, you only really need to deal with the school for one year. Nevertheless, I think you should still try hard in your studies so that you will be confident when you sit the test. I will write about my experience during the test so hopefully, you get an idea:
Verbal Reasoning-This was the first test, and normally I am terrible because my vocabulary sucks. I had practised verbal reasoning for the past few months, trying to improve my vocab and thinking skills. The easiest way to improve your vocabulary is to read. However, it was sort of too late for me since the test was a few months away so I just learnt some root words in the hope I can do well on the test. On the test, there was also again a lot of word problems. An example was like Bob, Jill, Michael and Jeff are sitting on a round table. Bob is sitting on the left of Jill and etc. Who is sitting opposite Michael? There was probably like twenty of these questions. There wasn't a lot of vocab but I think it's still best to learn to get those extra marks. Because this test was more like problem-solving I got a superior in this guessing around 5 questions.
Numerical-this test was second and I believed I was strong in numerical before I did the test. However, as soon as I started answering them I was getting really nervous. The questions were all like one paragraph with a few of them being patterns and other stuff. I remember when the person said 15 minutes left I was still on question 20. I realised that I should start skipping these really long questions. I really screwed up the test but I was confident at least I got around the first 25 questions right. Overall I skipped like10-20 questions. My results-I got a superior in this and I was actually super surprised considering I was panicking and guessed a lot. The average of this test was probably like 30%.
Reading comprehension- this test was actually pretty easy. There wasn't always a massive chunk of writing for like a few questions. The grammar and punctuation questions in comprehension are also usually pretty easy. I think the main issue was deciding which answer the best fit. I always was able to chop off two of the multiple-choice answers but then I would get stuck on which of these two options and couldn't decide which one I think was the answer. This can usually take a lot of time and its best to just instantly go with your gut feeling so you have more time towards the end. I found this test quite easy despite my English is terrible. However, if I found it easy I think everyone else also found it easy so I got a high average on this test which basically destroyed my chances of getting into a selective school considering the school I was in.
Maths-this test was the last test of all of them and after realising how hard the tests were I switched up my strategy. I skipped a lot of the questions which were very wordy and came back to them after. Overall I think I guessed around 5-10 questions. The test questions were overall pretty hard but I was stronger in maths so I found it fine. . I remember some questions were such as a trigonometry question which I had no idea about. There was a lot of surds and quadratic as well. Overall, I got superior in this though.
This test was extremely difficult, it was a lot harder than all the practice questions I have done. I believe the reason this was hard was that we had no writing. I was extremely sad I couldn't get in despite having the three superiors. To get in from our school you needed all superiors or one above average and the rest superiors. Even some students got three superiors and one above average and didn't get in. However, they eventually got in with second-round offers and PD. I believe is best to study really hard for the test may be only playing games one to two hours a day on weekdays with the school. Even if you think you're confident you can make it still study hard. I hope you can learn about my experience sitting the selective test. If you have any questions reply back:)
Einsteinium:
--- Quote from: JZou276 on January 05, 2021, 06:07:33 pm ---Hi,
Last year I took the selective entrance exam and unfortunately could not get in despite getting 3 superiors and a high average. I think the main reason more this is because I went to a really competitive and smart school. A strategy to getting in is to just move schools so that you can have no competition, you only really need to deal with the school for one year. Nevertheless, I think you should still try hard in your studies so that you will be confident when you sit the test. I will write about my experience during the test so hopefully, you get an idea:
Verbal Reasoning-This was the first test, and normally I am terrible because my vocabulary sucks. I had practised verbal reasoning for the past few months, trying to improve my vocab and thinking skills. The easiest way to improve your vocabulary is to read. However, it was sort of too late for me since the test was a few months away so I just learnt some root words in the hope I can do well on the test. On the test, there was also again a lot of word problems. An example was like Bob, Jill, Michael and Jeff are sitting on a round table. Bob is sitting on the left of Jill and etc. Who is sitting opposite Michael? There was probably like twenty of these questions. There wasn't a lot of vocab but I think it's still best to learn to get those extra marks. Because this test was more like problem-solving I got a superior in this guessing around 5 questions.
Numerical-this test was second and I believed I was strong in numerical before I did the test. However, as soon as I started answering them I was getting really nervous. The questions were all like one paragraph with a few of them being patterns and other stuff. I remember when the person said 15 minutes left I was still on question 20. I realised that I should start skipping these really long questions. I really screwed up the test but I was confident at least I got around the first 25 questions right. Overall I skipped like10-20 questions. My results-I got a superior in this and I was actually super surprised considering I was panicking and guessed a lot. The average of this test was probably like 30%.
Reading comprehension- this test was actually pretty easy. There wasn't always a massive chunk of writing for like a few questions. The grammar and punctuation questions in comprehension are also usually pretty easy. I think the main issue was deciding which answer the best fit. I always was able to chop off two of the multiple-choice answers but then I would get stuck on which of these two options and couldn't decide which one I think was the answer. This can usually take a lot of time and its best to just instantly go with your gut feeling so you have more time towards the end. I found this test quite easy despite my English is terrible. However, if I found it easy I think everyone else also found it easy so I got a high average on this test which basically destroyed my chances of getting into a selective school considering the school I was in.
Maths-this test was the last test of all of them and after realising how hard the tests were I switched up my strategy. I skipped a lot of the questions which were very wordy and came back to them after. Overall I think I guessed around 5-10 questions. The test questions were overall pretty hard but I was stronger in maths so I found it fine. . I remember some questions were such as a trigonometry question which I had no idea about. There was a lot of surds and quadratic as well. Overall, I got superior in this though.
This test was extremely difficult, it was a lot harder than all the practice questions I have done. I believe the reason this was hard was that we had no writing. I was extremely sad I couldn't get in despite having the three superiors. To get in from our school you needed all superiors or one above average and the rest superiors. Even some students got three superiors and one above average and didn't get in. However, they eventually got in with second-round offers and PD. I believe is best to study really hard for the test may be only playing games one to two hours a day on weekdays with the school. Even if you think you're confident you can make it still study hard. I hope you can learn about my experience sitting the selective test. If you have any questions reply back:)
--- End quote ---
Yeah i also moved schools because of that reason.
Uber276:
lol, did you get in? what were your scores?
Einsteinium:
--- Quote from: JZou276 on January 08, 2021, 09:44:03 pm ---lol, did you get in? what were your scores?
--- End quote ---
Whoops,
I am in year 8 in 2021.
I am doing the test in 6 months or so.
Sorry about the confusion
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