Victorian Selective Entry Exam 2027 (for 2028 Entry): Dates, Format and Preparation Guide

Entry into a Victorian Selective Entry High School (SEHS) is widely considered the ‘gold standard’ of public education in Victoria. However, the path to acceptance is rarely straightforward.

It is not merely a test of what your child knows, but an assessment of how they think under pressure.

The 2027 entry round is now complete: the exam was held on Saturday 20 June 2026 and offers were made in August. If your child is in Year 7 now and will be in Year 8 in 2027, they will sit the exam in mid-2027 for Year 9 entry in 2028. This guide covers the expected dates, the current exam format, how offers work and how to prepare.

Around 1,000 Year 9 places are available each year across Victoria’s four selective entry high schools:

• Melbourne High School (Boys)
• The Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School (Girls)
• Nossal High School (Co-ed)
• Suzanne Cory High School (Co-ed)

Key Dates for the 2027 Selective Entry Exam (2028 Entry)

Official dates for the 2028 entry round have not been published yet. They are usually confirmed by ACER early in the year. Until then, the confirmed 2027 entry timeline is the best guide, as the process follows a similar pattern each year.

Applications are made online through ACER, and late applications are not accepted. Set a reminder for late February 2027 to check the official site for the confirmed dates.

Inside the SEHS Exam: Format and Timing

The exam is designed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to assess reasoning and aptitude as well as knowledge. According to ACER’s exam preparation page, it has three tests:

The tasks take 2 hours and 35 minutes in total, with breaks between tests. With registration, the whole session runs for about four hours. Calculators are not permitted.

The 30-Second Rule

In a standard school test, a student often has time to double-check their work or ponder a difficult question. In the Selective Entry exam, hesitation is the enemy. ACER itself notes that it is not unusual for candidates to answer only half the questions correctly, and that many do not finish.

In our practice exams, many multiple-choice questions need to be answered in well under a minute. We call this the ‘30-Second Rule’: if a question isn’t yielding a clear path within about 30 seconds, make an informed guess, mark it and move on.

Success here does not come from deep contemplation. It comes from ‘triage’. A prepared student knows how to spot easy marks quickly, bank them and move on, rather than getting stuck on a single difficult problem.

Selection Criteria Explained: The 85% Merit and 4% Rule

Understanding how offers are made is just as important as the exam itself. According to the Victorian Government:

• 85% of places are offered on ‘standard merit’, based on rank from exam performance.
• Up to 10% of places are for ‘equity consideration’, for families holding a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or for students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
• Up to 5% of places are offered through ‘principal discretion’.

Families can list up to three school preferences. The application fee is $175, which is waived for eligible concession card holders and First Nations families.

The ‘4% Rule’ means no more than 4% of students from a single source school (your child’s Year 8 cohort) can receive a standard merit or principal discretion offer. Students at high-performing schools therefore face stiffer competition, and can miss out despite strong scores because of the school cap.

This creates a phenomenon we call ‘The Qualifying Heat’. Think of the exam like an Olympic sprint. Before you reach the finals, you must qualify through your local ‘heat’ (your current school).

• If your child is in a ‘fast heat’: A fast heat is a high-performing school with many gifted students, where the bar to reach the top 4% is high. Your child could score brilliantly but still miss out because some classmates scored slightly higher.
• If your child is in a ‘slower heat’: At a school with less academic competition, the bar to reach the top 4% is lower. A student with the same score, or even slightly lower, might qualify as a standout in their group.

Students at competitive schools face a ‘double challenge’. They must master the exam content and outperform their own classmates. This is why strategic preparation, with a focus on speed and accuracy, is so important for students in high-achieving cohorts.

Preparing for Success: Training Like an Athlete

Effective preparation for the Selective Entry exam requires building speed and stamina, not just rote learning. At Premier Education, we use a ‘Sprint System’ of timed practice blocks (five minutes) followed by detailed mistake analysis, so students adapt to the pace of the exam.

This is a skill-based exam. You cannot learn to play tennis at a championship level simply by reading a book about physics. You have to get on the court and hit the ball. The same logic applies here.

We encourage our students to adopt an ‘Athlete Mindset’. We move away from long, passive lectures and focus on ‘Conditioning’.

Training Smarter With the Sprint System

The Sprint System is a strategy we teach students to help them train with purpose, build exam fitness and learn from every attempt:

1. The Sprint (5 minutes): The student attempts a set of questions under strict exam conditions. No pausing. No checking answers.
2. The Review (10 minutes): The student stops and marks their work. Crucially, they analyse why they made each mistake. Did they misread the question? Did they lack the foundational knowledge? Did they fall for a logic trap?
3. The Calibration: They adjust their approach and go straight into the next sprint.

This method builds the stamina to stay focused through a session of about four hours. Many bright students lose marks simply because they are tired by the final test.

Practising With Purpose: Tests and Sample Questions

ACER provides free sample questions on its website. They are a useful introduction to the question styles, but a handful of questions at the kitchen table doesn’t reflect the time pressure of a full paper in a silent exam hall.

Full-length practice exams that cover the entire breadth of topics are the best way to understand your child’s strengths and weaknesses. In particular, the mathematics section relies on a solid grasp of the Year 8 curriculum, while the reading, verbal reasoning and writing tests reward strong English and comprehension skills. If your child struggles with certain topics, such as geometry or probability, sample questions may not reveal it.

Don’t wait until May to discover your child hasn’t mastered algebra. For a June exam, knowledge gaps should be identified in Term 1 so they can be bridged with targeted support.

At Premier Education, we use a library of recorded videos, comprehensive notes and progress tests to help students master their weaknesses and approach the exam with confidence. On average, we help our students raise their mark by 24% in any given topic after just two weeks of targeted support.

Common Questions About the Selective Entry Exam

1. When is the Victorian selective entry exam in 2027?

The exam for Year 9 entry in 2028 is expected to be held on a Saturday in June 2027, with applications open from around early March to late April. ACER will confirm the exact dates, usually early in the year.

2. Is the Selective Entry High Schools Exam hard?

Yes. The exam is designed to be challenging and tests reasoning as well as curriculum knowledge. Time pressure is the main hurdle: ACER notes that many candidates do not finish.

3. What is a good score for the Selective Entry Exam?

There is no published pass mark. Families receive a report on their child’s performance, and standard offers are made by rank, subject to the 4% source school cap. Because results are ranked against the whole cohort and the cap varies by school, the safest goal is to perform as strongly as possible in every test.

4. Can I apply if I am in Year 9?

No. The central exam is for Year 9 entry, so students sit it while in Year 8. A small number of places may be available in Years 10 and 11, and these are managed directly by the individual schools.

5. How much does it cost to apply?

The application fee for the 2027 entry round was $175. It is waived for families holding a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, and for First Nations families.

Your Next Steps for the Selective Entry Exam

The Victorian Selective Entry High Schools Exam is a challenging but rewarding process. It opens doors to schools like Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School and Melbourne High School that can change the course of a student’s academic future.

Remember the core strategy:

• Treat the exam like a sport (conditioning over memorisation).
• Respect the ‘30-Second Rule’ (speed is key).
• Be aware of the ‘4% Rule’ (know your competition).

With the 2027 exam about seven months away, now is the ideal time to start. Join our Selective Entry tutoring program to see how we apply the Sprint System in weekly classes, or book a free, full-length trial exam to see exactly where your child sits against the cohort.