d) Selective Entry High School Exam

Victoria’s four selective entry high schools provide an educationally enriched environment for academically high-achieving students in Years 9 to 12.

A centralised selection process, administered by the Department of Education and Training, is used to select students for the selective entry high schools at Year 9, with approximately 1,000 places offered in any year.

Students are selected based on a competitive examination. In 2020 the examination includes four tests:

• verbal reasoning (multiple-choice, 30 minutes)
• numerical reasoning (multiple-choice, 30 minutes)
• reading comprehension (multiple-choice, 30 minutes)
• mathematics (multiple-choice, 30 minutes).

At selective entry high schools, 85% of students are accepted based on examination results only. Within this “standard” category, no more than 5% of Year 8 students from any one school can be accepted across the four selective entry high schools.

In addition, up to 10% of enrolments are through the equity consideration category and up to 5% of enrolments are made under the principal’s discretion category.

There are four (4) selective entry high schools in Victoria, two coeducational and two single-sex:

• Melbourne High School (boys only) in South Yarra
• The Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School (girls only) in Melbourne
• Nossal High School (boys and girls) in Berwick
• Suzanne Cory High School (boys and girls) in Werribee