The selective school test, regardless of what state you would be applying for (Victorian Selective School Test, NSW High School Placement Test, Brisbane State High School) is extremely competitive with usually a rate of acceptance of lower than 30% of all total applicants.

When practicing for the test then, a common question is what should I be aiming for and what type of scores are competitive.

As a guide based on my own experienced with tutoring children, when you’re practicing for the test, should be always aim for a correct % score for each of the tests in the 88% - 100% mark.  So if practicing for something like the Victorian Selective School Test, I would aim for over 88% correct in each of the following tests - verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, reading comprehension, mathematics and numerical reasoning, as these tests are multiple choice.

The thing to remember with the exam is that you can’t just be a specialist in one field.  For example, even if you get 100% in mathematics but then get a 65% in English, it’s unlikely a spot will be offered.  So you have to be at a high level all around for all the examinable subjects.

My view is that English is one of the harder components as it’s essay based and with an essay you can see a lot about the candidate.  Many people don’t know that and think that if they do rote learning, especially for mathematics, they’ll be fine.  With English (and remember there are two essays), you can see creativity (from the way they come up with ideas), you can see organisation (through their structure) and logical rigour (through the persuasive writing piece) and what level they’re at (e.g. basic grammar issues).  Writing if any, in my view, should be the area most focused on for your study for the exam.