Victorian Selective Entry
How the Year 9 selection system really works
YEAR 8
Applicants
APPLICATION
One process
3 PREFERENCES
Choose schools
155-MIN EXAM
One exam
RANKING
Selection
~1,000 PLACES
Annually
YEAR 9
Selective entry
4
Selective-entry schools
~1,000
Year 9 places annually
Year 8
Applicants normally in
ACER
Administered for Vic DoE
One Exam → Four Possible Schools
Melbourne High School
South Yarra · Boys
The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
Melbourne · Girls
Nossal High School
Berwick · Co-educational
Suzanne Cory High School
Werribee · Co-educational
Start with your child
Year 8
Year 9 (2027)
Step 1 — Can my child apply?
Step 2 — Choose up to 3 preferences
Order matters. Place your most preferred school first.
Add schools from above to build your preferences
The Examination — 155 minutes
Overall administration including registration and breaks: approximately 4 hours
This may surprise you
ACER notes that many candidates do not finish and that it is not unusual for candidates to answer only around half of the questions correctly. The exam is intentionally challenging.
Sample questions show style/format but are not necessarily representative of actual test difficulty. Time management is important — getting stuck on one difficult question can consume valuable time.
How places are allocated
Standard Merit
Based on rank from examination performance.
Equity Consideration
Exam performance plus eligibility for the equity category. Current eligibility includes qualifying Health Care/Pensioner Concession Card circumstances and/or First Nations identification.
Principal Discretion
Invitation-based. Candidates with strong results may be invited to apply. An invitation is not an offer.
Source-School Offer Cap
Your current school affects the offer cap — but NOT your exam score
Student A
Prep–Year 9 only school
10%
source-school offer cap
Student B
P–12 / 7–12 school
4%
source-school offer cap
• The source school is the school attended in Year 8.
• The cap applies to Standard Merit + Principal Discretion offers.
• Equity Consideration offers are outside this cap.
Readiness Explorer
Self-assess your child's readiness. This is a planning tool, not an admission prediction.
Readiness profile
Balanced
This is a self-assessment tool, not an official exam score or admission prediction.
Results & Offers
Approximately 90% of places are secured through Round 1.
Parents receive a performance report. Candidates do not receive access to secure tests afterwards.
Individual test content/scores are not available for inspection in the way parents might expect. SEHS results should not be directly compared with NAPLAN.
Year 9 entry in 2027 Timeline
Official Sources
Effective cycle: 2026 · Verified: August 2026