The following information and practice examinations are included to help prepare your child prior to sitting the entrance examination.
The entrance examination is made up of both ability tests and achievement tests. There are six tests in total and the examination takes approximately three hours to complete. The test answers for the mathematics, reading comprehension, numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning practice tests are also included below.
The entrance examination is designed to test and challenge students so it is quite demanding.
Ability tests
The ability tests are designed to measure a student’s ability to think, reason and solve problems without necessarily relying on prior knowledge. Ability generally predicts how quickly a child will be able to learn and the level of complexity they can comfortably deal with. The two ability tests are verbal reasoning and numerical reasoning.
Verbal reasoning
This is a multiple-choice test that measures the ability to think and reason using words and language. Items in the test tap into vocabulary, word relationships, classification and deduction.
See Verbal Reasoning practice test (PDF - 73Kb) (PDF - 73Kb)
Numerical reasoning
This is a multiple-choice test that measures the ability to think and reason using numbers. Items in the test tap into series, matrices, arithmetical reasoning and deduction.
See Numerical Reasoning practice test (PDF - 73Kb) (PDF - 73Kb)
Achievement tests
The achievement tests are designed to measure actual achievement or performance in some key academic areas. Achievement scores are influenced by a student’s ability as well as the application and practice of knowledge that has been learned. The four achievement tests are reading comprehension, mathematics, creative writing and analytical writing.
Reading comprehension
This is a multiple-choice test that measures the capacity to read and interpret meaning from written passages. Some questions also require students to correct, complete and punctuate sentences.
See Reading Comprehension practice test (PDF - 100Kb) (PDF - 90Kb)
Mathematics
This is a multiple-choice test that measures year-level appropriate mathematical knowledge. Questions include measurements, algebra, space and data.
See Mathematics practice test (PDF - 192Kb) (PDF - 192Kb)
Creative writing
This test is a writing task of original work in response to a visual stimulus. It assesses the student’s ability to convey ideas clearly in written form. Punctuation, content, creativity, construction, paragraphs, grammar, spelling and relevance to the task are all assessed in this test.
See Creative writing practice test (PDF - 47Kb)
Persuasive Writing
This test comprises a writing task that requires students to respond to an issue that is relevant to society (for example, social, environmental, political). It assesses the student’s ability to take a stance on the issue, providing a logical and cohesive argument in order to persuade an audience. Use of persuasive devices and language, punctuation, content, structure, paragraphing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and sophistication of the arguments provided are all assessed in this test.
See: Persuasive writing practice test (pdf 168.4 KB) or Persuasive writing practice test (doc 25.33 KB)
Test answers
For the results of the mathematics, reading comprehension, numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning practice tests, see: