Year 7 EntryFor students in current years 5 and 6
Child in current years 7 and 8? See Year 9 EntryWhat catches families out
- Year 6
- when the test is sat
- Families who start planning once Year 7 begins have already missed it by a year.
- July
- when most registrations close
- Months before the test itself, and they close quietly. Miss the form and the exam is irrelevant.
- Every school
- sets its own test
- There is no one exam to prepare for. Date, format and provider all change with your shortlist.
What this stream will cover
Entry into an accelerated stream at the start of Year 7. It's a separate pathway from the Year 9 exam, with different tests, timing and target schools.
- SEALSelect Entry Accelerated Learning, at Victorian government schools
- Equivalent programsThe same idea, running under another name
- ScholarshipsYear 7 scholarship testing at independent schools
Which stream is for you?
- Current Years 5 and 6
- Year 7 Entry
- SEAL, ACE and similar accelerated programs. This page.
- Current Years 7 and 8
- Year 9 Entry
- Melbourne High, Mac.Robertson, Nossal, Suzanne Cory. Running now.
- See the Year 9 program
How Year 7 entry differs from the Year 9 exam
Families often assume this works like the Year 9 exam. The differences are what catch people out.
Each school runs its own test
Year 9 selective entry runs through one centralised ACER exam on one day. SEAL does not work that way: each school runs its own test, usually through an external provider, on its own date and to its own format. Independent school scholarships are different again, and many of them share a single sitting.
It happens earlier than families expect
Testing for a Year 7 place is almost always sat during Year 6, the year before. Most SEAL registrations close in July and the tests run from late July through August, so the paperwork is due months before the exam a family is thinking about. If you are reading this after August, that year's round has been and gone and the one to prepare for is next year's.
Which schools you are aiming at changes the preparation
Because each school sets its own test, the right preparation depends on the shortlist. That is the first thing worth working out, and it is the first thing we will ask.
What we can tell you today
How the Year 9 program runs is the standard we are building this to: the person who writes the material teaches the class, and every piece of written work is marked individually. That is the intention for Year 7, and it is the thing we would tell you about if it changed.
If you want to see what that looks like in practice before committing to anything here, the Year 9 program pages show the marking, the materials and the price in full.
See how the Year 9 program worksJoin the waitlist
You will hear when dates, pricing and class times are set, before they are announced anywhere else.
The one question worth answering carefully is which pathways you are aiming at. Because every school sets its own test, that answer is what decides which ones we prepare for first, and right now the list is open.
This is not an enrolment. Nothing is charged, no place is held, and you can come off the list by replying to any email.