The Victorian selective entry exam's format was restructured, and most practice papers on sale still use the old one.
Old format vs current format
| Section | Old format | Current format |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | 35 questions, 35 minutes | Merged, see below |
| Verbal Reasoning | 60 questions, 30 minutes | Merged, see below |
| Reading + Verbal Reasoning | N/A | 75 questions, 55 minutes |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 45 questions, 30 minutes | 35 questions, 30 minutes |
| Total multiple choice questions | 175 | 145 |
Reading Comprehension and Verbal Reasoning, previously two separate papers, are now merged into a single Reading + Verbal Reasoning paper: 75 questions in 55 minutes.
What this actually changes
The merged paper tests time allocation
Reading and Verbal Reasoning now tests a skill nothing in the old format trained: how a student splits their own time. No bell marks the halfway point between the reading passages and the verbal reasoning questions, so a student who sinks 35 minutes into the reading passages has wrecked their Verbal Reasoning.
Quantitative Reasoning is no longer a sprint
Quantitative Reasoning went from 45 questions in 30 minutes to 35 questions in 30 minutes: 40 seconds per question became 51. Old papers train the panic the real exam no longer requires.
Old raw scores do not translate
Total multiple choice questions dropped from 175 to 145. A reassuring percentage from an old paper may not mean what you think it means.
Old papers remain useful for question style and content. They are not useful for timing, scoring, or deciding how much attention each section deserves.