How to get help your child get into a Victorian Selective School
By Post Author | 9th Jan, 2025
A dream, an aspiration or simply a treasured wish that many Australian parents have is getting their son/daughter enrolled to one of the four Selective High Schools in Victoria. But to secure a place in the Selective High Schools of Victoria requires undeterred focus, sincere hard work, and a guided approach. So here’s a detailed breakdown of all the questions popping in your mind.
What is a Victorian Selective Entry High School?
The Selective Entry High Schools are special government funded schools catering to the academically high-achieving students from Year 9 to Year 12. These prestigious schools are known to provide an elite education with specifically designed stimulating, challenging and nurturing learning environments for the young minds to evolve, grow and prosper both intellectually and socially.
The highly accoladed and prestigious Selective Entry Schools of Victoria are:
- Nossal High School (co-ed)
- Suzanne Cory High School (co-ed)
- The Mac. Robertson Girls High School (girls only)
- Melbourne High School (boys only)
How to secure a seat in a Victorian Selective Entry High School?
The best possible way to get into one of these Selective High Schools in Victoria is by appearing for the Selective Entry High School (SEHS) entrance exam administered by ACER. This entrance test is for Year 8 students applying for the next academic session Year 9-entry.
Only very few spots available each year for entry to Years 10-12 are individually managed by the school administrations.
When does the Selective Entry High School (SEHS) entrance exam take place?
The SEHS entrance exam administered by ACER takes place around June – July each year. The exam outcomes are published around August and the offers are processed between August to October of the same year.
How to apply and register for the Selective Entry High School (SEHS) entrance exam?
All interested candidates have to successfully complete and submit an online application form for the SEHS entrance exam available on the official website within the given timeframe.
On making a successful payment of the entrance exam fees and submission of the online application form the applicants will become eligible to sit for the SEHS entrance exam.
What is the Selective Entry High School (SEHS) entrance exam and its format?
The SEHS entrance exam is a writtens assessment of a candidate’s higher order cognitive skills. This test assesses the abilities of a student more than evaluating his/her achievement. The test duration is approximately four hours which includes two breaks of 20 minutes and 5 minutes each.
The SEHS entrance test format is as given below:
| Test Type | Section | Minutes | No. of Questions | Type |
| Reasoning | Reading | 35 | 50 | Multiple Choice |
| Reasoning | Mathematics | 30 | 50 | Multiple Choice |
| General Ability | Verbal | 30 | 50 | Multiple Choice |
| General Ability | Quantitative | 30 | 50 | Multiple Choice |
| General Ability | Writing | 40 | 2 | Open response |
How to prepare for the Selective Entry High School (SEHS) entrance exam?
Other than being a studious, diligent and high-achieving student one needs to ensure top-notch, focussed and guided preparation. Make sure to work on the following:
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- Strengthen Core Academic pillars: Make it a point to actively working and developing on the foundational academic subjects like Maths, Science and Language.
- Develop Essential Learning skills:
➤Get into the habit of Reading to develop Comprehension and understanding
➤Hone your critical cognition, problem solving, and analytical skills by engaging in activities like experimentation, quizzes, debates and puzzles
➤Brush up and sharpen your mathematical reasoning by regular logic, problem-solving and mathematical concepts practice
➤Make sure to observe and understand everything happening around you
Where to find the right Selective Entry High School (SEHS) entrance exam preparation resources?
- ACER Website:
The official ACER website offers sample questions, sample practice tests (solved and unsolved) and previous years question papers for the students. These help the students prepare and practice for the SEHS entrance test better.
Being one of the country’s most reliable online exam preparation platforms, Selectivetrial has innumerable student success stories in all these years. Their practice tests, SEHS entrance test preparation courses and expert faculty-led personalised tutoring is undeniably one of the best.
For further insights on our SEHS entrance test preparation courses and practice tests visit us at www.selectivetrial.com.au.
