The Victorian selective entry exam is one exam, sat in Year 8, for entry into Year 9 at four government selective schools: Melbourne High School, Mac.Robertson Girls' High School, Nossal High School, and Suzanne Cory High School.
Entry is by the exam alone. Not school reports, not an interview, not where you live.
It is genuinely competitive. Most students who sit it do not receive an offer.
The current format
The exam has five sections, sat in one sitting.
| Section | Questions | Time | Per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 35 questions | 30 minutes | 51 seconds |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 35 questions | 30 minutes | 51 seconds |
| Reading + Verbal Reasoning | 75 questions | 55 minutes | 44 seconds |
| Creative Writing | 1 task | 20 minutes | N/A |
| Persuasive Writing | 1 task | 20 minutes | N/A |
In total, that is 145 multiple choice questions plus two writing tasks, across 155 minutes.
Every multiple choice question has four options, A to D. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so a guess always beats a blank.