VIC Select Entry

Overview

Victoria's Select Entry High Schools (SEHS) program is a centralised selection process run by the Victorian Department of Education, with the entrance exam administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It selects students for Year 9 entry into four academically selective government secondary schools: Melbourne High School (boys, South Yarra), Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (girls, Melbourne CBD), Suzanne Cory High School (co-educational, Werribee) and Nossal High School (co-educational, Berwick). Around 1,000 Year 9 places are offered across the four schools each year, decided mainly by performance in a single entrance exam that tests mathematics, reading, verbal and quantitative reasoning, and writing rather than Year 8 curriculum content.

This program is distinct from Select Entry Accelerated Learning (SEAL), which is a separate, school-based accelerated-learning stream offered by individual Victorian government secondary schools, usually entered at Year 7, with its own per-school test, fee and dates. This page covers only the centrally run Year 9 SEHS exam. For the equivalent selective-school entrance test in New South Wales, which selects for Year 7 rather than Year 9, see the NSW Selective programme page.

Who can apply

A child is in Year 8 (or the equivalent) during the year they apply, and would start Year 9 at a Select Entry High School the following year. To apply, a child must be an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen residing in Australia, or hold a visa or ImmiCard that exempts them from paying international student fees at a Victorian government school; fee-paying international students are not eligible. Applicants may live in Victoria, interstate or overseas. Each student may sit the Year 9 entrance exam only once, so a student who has already sat it cannot re-apply in a later year.

Exam pattern

For 2026, the entrance exam has three timed papers covering five assessed areas, sat in one sitting with breaks between papers.

A 20-minute break follows the Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning paper, and a shorter break follows Reading and Verbal Reasoning before the Writing paper, for roughly two and a half hours of total testing time. ACER does not release past exam papers; it publishes only a small number of sample questions, and advises families that the exam is designed so that many candidates do not finish every question in the time given.

Marking and results

Scores from the three papers are combined into a composite score used to rank every applicant. Reported selection criteria split places into a merit category, decided purely by composite exam ranking; an equity category, for candidates who can demonstrate financial hardship, refugee status, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, or disability; and a smaller principal-discretion category. There is no published pass mark or fixed cut-off score, and the same composite ranking can lead to different outcomes at different schools depending on preferences and the strength of that year's applicant pool. Applicants rank all four schools in order of preference, and an allocation process places each student at the highest-preferenced school where their ranking is competitive. A cap also limits how many students from any single contributing school can be offered a place across the four selective schools, to spread access across many schools rather than concentrating offers in a small number of feeder schools.

Important dates

For 2027 entry (children in Year 8 during 2026), the application cycle followed this calendar:

Applications for the following cycle (2028 entry, Year 8 in 2027) are expected to open in early March 2027 and close in late April 2027, with the exam held in mid-June 2027; exact dates are confirmed by the Department of Education and ACER each year.

How to apply

Parents or carers apply online through the ACER-run Selective Entry High Schools portal during the application period. One application covers all four schools, and the family ranks the schools in order of preference on that single form. For 2026, the application fee was 175 AUD, waived for applicants holding a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card and for First Nations applicants; families who do not meet those criteria but face financial hardship can request a fee reduction through the portal. Requests for special test arrangements, such as for a medical condition or disability, must also be lodged in the portal by the application deadline. Shortlisted applicants sit the exam at a nominated metropolitan or regional test centre.

After the exam

Exam outcome reports are sent to families once marking is complete, and Round 1 offers follow soon after, based on each applicant's composite ranking against their school preferences. Most places are offered on this merit ranking, with a smaller share set aside for the equity category and for principal discretion. Students who receive an offer must provide original proof of citizenship, residency or visa status to the offered school to complete enrolment. Further offer rounds can follow Round 1 as places are confirmed, declined or become available.

Preparation tips

• Treat the exam as three distinct timed papers and practise each one, including the two Writing tasks, within its own time limit, since the exam is designed so many candidates cannot finish every question.

• Use ACER's own published sample questions on its Prepare page as a first reference for question style, since ACER does not release full past papers.

• Build general reading and reasoning skills rather than relying on Year 8 curriculum revision, since Reading and Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning test general problem-solving more than taught content.

• Keep expectations realistic going into the exam: not completing every question is normal and expected by the exam's design, not a sign of a poor result.

FAQs