Navigating the world of selective testing schools is undoubtedly a convoluted journey.
Ambiguous entry criteria, a monotony of the same select entry tutor "experts," uncommunicative examination bodies, and the general buzz of panic from other families make the select entry process extraordinarily stressful.
Whether it's selective entry schools in NSW or VIC, you need someone who’s successfully done it all before.
My name is Jesse, and I graduated with awards in academic excellence from one of Victoria’s select entry schools in 2019. On behalf of the Hatchery team, I'm here to decipher the mystery of select entry testing.
I assume, if you're reading this, you've got the basics of selective test schools down pat, but lets do a quick review regardless.
NSW Selective test schools have their main intake at year 7, meaning most students will sit their entry exam in year 6.
VIC selective test intakes are later, with the main intake at year 9, thus Victorian students sit their exam in year 8.
Both states make additional provisions for applications after these main intakes, and these typically happen at the discretion of the school's principal.
From my experience, many people that didn't make it into the year 9 intake were successful in their second attempt at the year 10 intake. These kids didn't have any trouble with academics, or school assimilation despite the delayed start. My point is - don't be scared of giving selective testing a second go-around if you’re unsuccessful in the first intake.
Let's run the numbers on selective test schools;
There are just over 4,000 places at selective testing schools in NSW, comprised of 17 fully selective high schools, and 27 partially selective high schools (44 total).
Comparatively, there are around 1,000 places at selective testing schools in VIC, comprised of the 4 main fully selective schools;
Over 3000 people apply for selective schools in Victoria, at an acceptance rate of around 1/3
Over 15,000 people apply for selective schools in NSW, at an even lower acceptance rate of ~25%
At a later time, I'll go deep to break down the main points of difference between the four selective schools in victoria. However, aside from the gender makeup of the school, all four are more alike than different. I typically advise parents and students to avoid trying to pick a selective school in NSW or Victoria for any reason other than location or gender.
Read more: What are selective schools? | NSW
Read more: Selective entry high schools | VIC
The underlying rationale behind selective entry schools in NSW and VIC is much the same, and it's a fairly simple argument;
By filtering for the gifted and high achievers with selective testing,, selective schools can accelerate learning in the classroom at a pace that would not be feasible in a traditional setting without leaving 90% of the students behind.
Read more about being a “high potential” student
Students no longer go at the speed of the average learner
Think of it like a fitness class. The group instructor will choose an exercise for the average 80% of the class, which means that the top 10% already know what to do and won't learn anything, the middle 80% will improve slightly, and the bottom 10% will catch up to the average.
You don't want your or your kid's high-achieving capacity to go to waste.
This was the original reason I decided to sit the selective test in Victoria. In years 7-8, I was given assessment tasks from higher years, did different work from my peers in class, and was often encouraged to consider skipping a grade ahead.
Parents/families of high achievers often think that accelerating learning is a good way to go, but it's really the wrong thing to do. When the name of the game is your ATAR, all that skipping a grade does is make your competition across the state 1-2 years older - you're bound to get a worse score.
The way to get ahead is to immerse yourself in a high-achieving environment with the best teachers and a learning pace/style that accommodates the top 10%, not the average 80%.
THIS is the purpose of selective testing schools.
The proof is in the pudding. The median VIC ATAR score is around 70, whereas three-quarters of the selective schools in Victoria were above 93 in 2022.
Note, NSW-based ATAR information is relatively scarce, however NSW Selective entry schools traditionally outperform the average in a similar way to VIC
This is however a biased representation of what goes on in selective testing schools. While, yes, selective school students significantly outperform the average, it's mostly a function of being pre-selected for having high-achieving qualities, not necessarily as a result of simply attending the school.
Going to a selective entry school isn't a golden ticket to a 95 ATAR,
Instead, selective entry schools should be thought of as places that enable students to, by way of their own effort, achieve the maximum possible ATAR they’re capable of without being hamstrung by the pace of traditional learning environments.
Whilst it may appear convoluted, applying is really the easy part of the selective testing process. Both the selective schools in victoria and NSW follow a similar approach.
My general approach for families going through the selective testing application is to look at it from a lens of excitement. This will most likely be a life-changing experience for applicants that get in. Enjoy everything, from the initial school research that makes up your preference list, to the final submission.
Read more on the individual application process for each state at;
Information for applicants | NSW
Selective Entry High Schools Information Pack 2023 | VIC
As I'm sure you’ve been told, it's not quite that simple - well actually, it kind of is!
For both the selective schools in Victoria and the selective schools in NSW, students are essentially ranked in order of academic performance based on their scores on the placement test.
Read more: 2021 Entry Scores of NSW Selective High Schools
There are some further complications, including equity-based placement, placement quotas, how the scores are calculated, and principal discretion placements, but ultimately students get into select-entry schools based on how well they did on the selective school test.
You can read more about the selection process for each state;
The Selection Process | NSW Department of Education
and Selective Entry High Schools Information Pack 2023 | VIC
“But tell me Jesse, what score do we need?” I can hear you all exclaiming.
With many many years of selective test tutoring & engaging with students & parents alike, this is without fail the most common question I receive. My response is typically always some version of “the best score you can get.”
What do I mean by this? Well, the point is, it doesn't actually matter what score you need. If the student does as best as physically possible, given the best select entry tutors, the best select entry preparation material, and a high level of dedication, then there's nothing that “knowing what score you need” will change.
You just need to maximize what you can control - and that's the effort. Year to year, the entrance scores will move, the cohort sizes will fluctuate, the difficulty will change. All you can do is do your best.
It's like asking “How fast do I need to run?” before a 100m sprint. As long as you run as fast as possible, then you give yourself the best chance to win the race. The rest is completely out of your control.
The NSW selective test and the VIC selective test both cover similar topics, yet have separate governing bodies and separate structures
The NSW selective test underwent an overhaul in 2021, shifting focus to thinking skills, mathematical reasoning, and problem-solving, with adjusted weightings across the sections.
The NSW selective test format is paper-based and spans 150 minutes of examination time
The questions are based on a diverse range of texts and assess a range of reading skills. The answers are all multiple-choice.
The reading test questions are based on different genres such as non-fiction, fiction, poetry, magazine articles, and reports.
The questions in the mathematical reasoning section of the test are MCQ, with no calculator access
The mathematical reasoning test assesses the student’s ability to apply mathematical understanding and knowledge to problems, with questions drawn from a range of mathematical content areas.
The thinking skills test assesses the student’s ability in critical thinking and problem-solving. There are a range of different question types in the test.
These questions are also MCQ and require no previous knowledge.
The writing test consists of a topic about which students must write according to the instructions. Students have 30 minutes to complete the test. The test assesses the student’s creativity of ideas and ability to write effectively for a purpose and audience. The test will also assess grammar, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary. Students who do not address the topic in their writing, regardless of fluency or creativity, will receive low marks.
Read more: The test - NSW Department of Education
The 2023 Select entry test for NSW has now been sat and finished.
The VIC selective test underwent a change in governing body as of 2023 and thus is entirely new to all exam sitters.
The new format will follow this structure, and will take 3 hours to complete:
Whilst the new VIC selective testing governing body, ACER, has been reticent to provide additional information about the exam, its safe to assume that the new sections map closely to the previous sections in the VIC select entry exam:
You can read our analysis of the new structural change to the VIC selective entry exam.
Key dates:
The exam will be held on Saturday, July 15, 2023, across different venues across Melbourne. Parents will be notified via email about their venue allocation two weeks before the exam.
Other dates to keep in mind:
Read more: Year 9 admission process 2024
With years of tutoring experience, friends that have gone through the select entry process, and having done the test successfully myself, there's a very short list of things I haven't seen when it comes to the selective test.
What 99% of families get wrong about select entry exam preparation is that it ISN'T like preparing for an exam. The select entry test isn't an exam that tests knowledge, it's an exam that tests SKILLS. In order to better prepare, you cannot treat this exam how you traditionally would a maths, or English exam.
Let me reiterate, and trust me on this, you cannot treat this test like a traditional exam.
As a result, most families sink endless amounts of money and time into preparation that is meager at best. Take it from my experience, you have to be smart about preparing for the select entry exam.
It's a subtle point, but selective schools are not explicitly testing how well a student knows the content on the select entry exam. The schools are instead assessing whether the student shows signs of the raw analytical hardware to be able to successfully perform in a content/domain agnostic way.
In some regards, the whole point of the exam is to specifically NOT test content.
The governing body for the VIC Selective test has stated themselves “There is no need for your child to practice or revise for the exam.” This isn't just a platitude encouraging a more fair examination environment, you seriously can't “practice” or “revise” for the exam
I’ve seen it many times before. Parents fork out thousands of dollars to tutoring companies for hours and hours of weekly teachings, only for their children to come up short. “But how could this student not make the exam if they spent 10+ hours per week at the “best” tutoring company for select entry exams?”
It's because these traditional tutors aren't actually teaching the raw, fundamental skills that sit behind the select entry exam that are being tested. They're wasting parents’ money & students’ time to instead teach the randomly selected content areas that may or may not show up on the select entry exam.
For example, when a simultaneous equation appears on one of the select entry exams, students aren't being tested if they know how to solve a simultaneous equation, they're being tested on their ability to analyse a situation, represent it mathematically, and work through to solve the situation logically. If a student spends 10 hours a week learning simultaneous equations via a tutor, they'll answer this specific question right, but if the question even SLIGHTLY deviates from simultaneous equations, and measures analytical thinking in another way, they won't have the fundamental skills that the question tests, and so will not be able to correctly answer it.
The best use of money and student time is to refine the underlying skillsets that these selective tests assess. But this is the hardest part of the select entry test. The skills are so ambiguous, the governing bodies give no indication of what skills they want students to demonstrate, and even if you knew the skills, you wouldn't know how to train them.
This is why we understand families reaching for the alleged panacea of traditional selective test tutors because it's better to do something rather than nothing, right?
My tip is to spend 80% of your time on practice material that mimics the type of questions seen in selective testing exams. Avoid spending time learning content, and instead prioritise deeply understanding the underlying skills that a question is asking. Don't worry yourself with how many topic areas you know, but instead concern yourself with the ability to display core competencies in the underlying skills.
We built Hatchery with this exact problem in mind. Our goal is to deliver the highest ROI studying experience to students on skills, rather than content. You can check us out here.