Selective schools are designed to meet the needs of academically gifted students. Unlike private schools, they are open to all students, regardless of their socio-economic background, however, the selection process is highly competitive and not everyone who applies gets accepted.
1. The current structure of the test (New structure since 2021)
The NEW selective test consists of 4 sections:
Reading | 40 minute exam with 30 questions | Worth 25% |
Mathematical Reasoning | 40 minute exam with 35 questions | Worth 25% |
Thinking Skills | 40 minute exam with 40 questions | Worth 35% |
Writing | 3o minute exam with 1 question | Worth 15% |
How are marks calculated?
Exam - Reading | /25 |
Exam - Mathematical Reasoning | /25 |
Exam - Thinking Skills | /35 |
Exam - Writing | /15 |
Internal Marks - from 5th grade teacher | /20 |
Final Mark | /120 |
The exam makes up a mark out of 100, and a mark of up to 20 come from your child's performance at school. The internal marks out of 20 are given by your child’s 5th grade teacher. The marks from these tests are scaled to give a final mark out of 120.
**Why is this important?
Internal marks from 5th grade teacher used to take up 1/3 of the total mark. Now, it is halved to 1/6 of the total mark. This means excellent performance in the Selective School Entrance Exam is more important and given more weighting than before.
2. OLD structure (outdated)
The previous and more well known structure consisted of the following:
Reading | 40 minute exam with 45 questions |
Mathematical Reasoning | 40 minute exam with 40 questions |
General Ability (GA) | 40 minute exam with 60 questions |
Writing | 30 minute exam with 1 question |
Exam - English (Reading + Writing) | /50 |
Exam - Mathematical Reasoning | /50 |
Exam - General Ability (GA) | /100 |
Internal Marks - from 5th grade teacher, out of 50 for maths, out of 50 for English | /100 |
Final Mark | /300 |
Maths and English each made up a mark of up to 50, and GA is 100 marks. These marks get scaled and the last 100 come from your child’s 5th grade teacher, which consists of 50 for maths and 50 for english. The total selective mark used to be out of 300.
Marks required for the top schools
The cut-off scores (minimum score needed to get into a school) change from year to year. For reference, the 2021 cut-off scores for the top 20 selective schools in NSW were:
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