General Selective Entrance Highschool Exam Guide/Checklist (MHS, MGHS, SCHS, NHS)

Checklist for Selective Entrance Exams Victoria 

Mathematics - all you need to know

1. Financial Mathematics – simple interest, compound interest, depreciation
2. Algebra – factorising, expanding, simplifying
3. Surds & Indices - Index laws, rationalising denominator, negative fractional powers
4. Simultaneous Equations & Inequations - substitution, elimination, number lines  
5. Linear Relationships - gradient formula, distance, midpoint
6. Non-linear relationships - quadratics, truncus, hyperbolas, exponentials, circles, ovals; graphing and understanding their equations will be important
7. Rates and Proportion - direct proportion, indirect proportion, conversion from percentage to ratio, unit conversion
8. Trigonometry - pythagoras, unit circle, exact values
9. Mensuration - all 2d & 3d area, surface area and volume equations (only 1-2 questions but it matters)
10. Geometry - angles of squares, shapes, parallel lines, perpendicular lines
11. Statistics - interquartile range, average, median, mean, mode etc
12. Probability – venn diagrams, conditional prob, tree diagrams, dice and card prob.
13. Polynomials - graphing, division, {remainder theorem, factor theorem minor}
14. Kinematics - time at which 2 objects meet, acceleration, basic physics {mainly on science reasoning but sometimes on maths and numerical}

[Yr9-10 applying for year 10-11]

1. Functions and Logarithms - basic questions with log 10
2. Circle Geometry – 9 theorem; the formulas and rules

Reading Comprehension

1. Grammar
1. Nouns
2. Verbs
3. Adjectives
4. Adverbs
5. Conjunctions
6. Preposition
7. Determiners
8. Interjections
2. Persuasive language techniques
1. Alliteration
2. Anecdote
3. Clichés
4. Emotive Language
5. Evidence
6. Exaggeration
7. Expert Opinion
8. Generalisation
9. Irony
10. Metaphor
11. Pun
12. Rhetorical Question
13. Repetition
14. Sarcasm
15. Slang
16. Statistics
17. Stereotype
18. Tone 
3. Text inferencing - 50% of the exam
1. Understanding the key themes
2. Being able to find key pieces of information
3. Choosing the most correct answer
4. Correct Punctuation
5. Choosing the correct sentence/s
6. Definition of a word within sentence

Verbal Reasoning

1. Vocabulary - VERY IMPORTANT
1. Wide vocabulary (synonyms and antonyms are asked a lot)
1. Antonyms and synonyms
2. Definitions 
3. Finding the odd word out
4. All of the words in the box below are alike in some way. 
2. Relation between words
1. __ is to __ as __ is to __
2. Words in a foreign language
3. Finding two statements which strongly suggest ___:

Numerical Reasoning

It's a bit of an IQ test, it focuses heavily on identifying patterns and number relation.

1. Number patterns (around 4-5 different ways to ask the question)
1. An understanding of sequences and series can help
2. Worded problems around the amount of objects - provided a paragraph and to choose the option with the correct response.
3. Financial Questions
1. Interest
2. Depreciation
3. Tax
4. More profitable company - etc
4. Time Questions
1. Starting late and finding the new end time.
5. Visual problems
1. Graphs
2. Tables
3. Shapes - find new area, amount of shapes within shape
6. Maths Knowledge
1. Factors
2. Multiples
3. Prime
4. Quick Math
7. [Minor] Coded Number Questions - I found a lot of these to be on the NSW exams (it hasn't popped up on any VIC exams before)

Writing

There isn't much of a checklist to provide other than knowing the key skills like TEEL for essays and descriptive language for creative pieces. Instead, I have included the previous selective exam writing topics and potential writing topics that you can cover.