Many private schools across Australia offer partial or full-fee scholarships to a select number of academically gifted students.\u00a0 These scholarships are highly competitive.\u00a0 Private schools generally award these scholarships on the basis of a scholarship examination administered by the school and an interview.\u00a0 Each school will set its own scholarship testing day, and the tests will usually held either at the school or another venue specified by the school.\u00a0 Specialist scholarships for creative and performing arts may also require students to attend an audition or provide a portfolio of their work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although some private schools, such as Sydney Grammar School in NSW, develop their own scholarship tests, a large number of Australian private schools use the scholarship exams developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Edutest, nad Academic Assessment Services (AAS).\u00a0 These examinations test students on a wide range of critical thinking skills and many are not based on any particular curriculum.\u00a0 The schools that develop their own tests often do not provide past papers, but these examinations are likely to have a similar format to the ACER, Edutest or AAS tests. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A list of the schools which use the ACER scholarship tests is available on the ACER scholarship testing website: https:\/\/www.acer.org\/au\/scholarship\/participating-schools<\/a>.\u00a0 The results of these examinations are made available to the schools to which you have made an application.\u00a0 The school may post the result reports to you, or make arrangements for you to view the results online.\u00a0 In the latter case, you will receive an e-mail notification from ACER.\u00a0\u00a0 The results are usually made available in mid-March (for SA) or early April (for the other states).\u00a0 The individual schools will inform you of the success or otherwise of your child\u2019s scholarship application.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACER scholarship tests are offered at both primary and secondary levels. \u00a0At the primary level, the tests assess students for entry into years 4, 5 and 6. The primary level scholarship exam is made up of three tests.\u00a0 The first is a reading and viewing test which tests your child\u2019s comprehension and ability to interpret both written and visual passages.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a 30-minute test in which your child will be asked to read several short passages and view several visual texts, and to answer 25 multiple-choice questions which test their understanding of these texts.\u00a0\u00a0 These texts are drawn from a range of areas across the curriculum.\u00a0 The second test is based on mathematical understanding.\u00a0 It is also a 30-minute multiple-choice test that asks students to answer 20 multiple-choice questions which test their ability to apply their mathematical skills to solve problems.\u00a0 These problems may involve short arithmetic calculations.\u00a0\u00a0 The third test is a writing test.\u00a0 In this test, students are asked to compose two pieces of writing in different genres in response to two separate prompts.\u00a0 They are allowed 20 minutes for each piece of writing, and are examined on the quality and structure of their written responses, their content and their ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The secondary-level tests are intended to tests students for entry into years 7 to 12.\u00a0 Each test is divided into a maximum of four different parts.\u00a0 Two of these involve written expression, a third consists of comprehension and interpretation based on materials from the humanities, and the final part is based on mathematics.\u00a0 The humanities and mathematics tests are both multiple choice tests which are forty minutes in length, while the two writing tests are 25 minutes long.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each writing test requires students to write an extended response and aims to test the student\u2019s ability to express their ideas in a written format.\u00a0 About one and a half ruled a4 pages are provided for each writing test, but the examiners are more concerned with the quality of each written piece, rather than its length. Stimulus material is provided for each writing test, and students are penalised if their responses are not based on this material.\u00a0 The stimulus material may take the form of a picture, a statement or a combination of these.\u00a0 Different stimulus materials may prompt students to write factual or imaginary stories, pieces of persuasive writing, dialogues, descriptions or explanations.\u00a0 The examiners base their marking on the quality of the content, its structure and organisation, the effectiveness and expressiveness of the language used, and grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the humanities test, students are required to answer multiple choice questions based on textual or visual material which is drawn from fields of the humanities, including English, art, history, geography and social science. The questions ask students to think critically and make judgements based on various kinds of texts, and visual stimuli, including diagrams and maps. The test is multiple choice and will require the student to answer 40-45 multiple choice questions, each of which has 4 options. It is not a test of knowledge, and is not based on the school curriculum. Instead, students are asked to make judgements, based on the materials presented in either written or visual form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The mathematics test includes questions aimed at testing students\u2019 mathematical skills for all high school students, and scientific skills for students in years 9 and above. The mathematical questions focus on problem solving, testing for the ability to analyse and interpret mathematical information, evaluate and select key pieces of information, reorganise and transform information, identify relationships between the data given, synthesise the information given, apply their mathematical skills to solving problems and evaluate solutions that are proposed. The scientific questions focus on scientific critical thinking, including analysing and interpreting information, comprehending concepts presented, identifying relationships, generating hypotheses, generalising findings, applying logic and the scientific method, formulating logical arguments, drawing logical conclusions, and evaluating the information, evidence and experimental conclusions presented. There are a total of 32-36 multiple choice questions provided. These are solely based on mathematics for students in years 7 and 8, and evenly divided between mathematics and science topics for students in years 9 and above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These tests are also administered by the individual schools on different dates; however, if you are in a remote location or overseas it may be possible to it these exams remotely.\u00a0 A list of the schools who use Edutest testing is available on the Edutest website: https:\/\/www.edutest.com.au\/schools.htm<\/a>.\u00a0 Students who are applying for multiple schools generally only have to and generally only can sit one set of examinations each semester (that is ONE in terms 1-2, and ONE in terms 3-4 each year).\u00a0 They must sit the examination on the earliest test date out of all of the ones they have applied for. Children who are registered with more than one school which have their exams on the same day may be able to sit the examinations at one venue The venue is usually allocated by Edutest, but it is possible to contact Edutest to register a preference.\u00a0 It should be noted, however, that some schools will not share their scholarship test results, and others have additional requirements for admission.\u00a0 These schools are listed on the Edutest website: https:\/\/aus.edutest.com.au\/<\/a>.\u00a0 Students applying to more than one school, including a school which does not share or transfer results will have to sit more than one examination.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Applications for scholarship examination candidature are made using an online registration form.\u00a0 An application fee is required for each school.\u00a0 To access the application, click on each school you are interested in and follow the prompts on the school\u2019s website to register your child for the scholarship test at that school.\u00a0 You must use the same e-mail address for all applications.\u00a0 Payments for registration fees are made to each school at the end of the application process.\u00a0 Each school sets its own registration fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Edutest examinations are broken up into two parts: the ability tests and the achievement tests.\u00a0 The ability tests do not rely on prior knowledge, but assess your child\u2019s problem solving and reasoning abilities.\u00a0\u00a0 There are two multiple choice tests in this category, each of which is 30 minutes long.\u00a0\u00a0 These are a verbal reasoning test which looks at vocabulary, relationships between words, classification and logical deduction, and a numerical reasoning test which measures your child\u2019s ability to think and reason on numerical problems including series, matrices, arithmetical reasoning and logical deduction.\u00a0 The achievement tests do test prior knowledge, and include 30-minute multiple choice tests in reading comprehension and mathematics, and a 15-minute\u00a0 written expression test.\u00a0\u00a0 The reading comprehension test asks your child to understand and interpret written passages, and includes a series of questions similar to those found on the NAPLAN language conventions test: students are provided with a list of sentences which they must either complete, correct or punctuate correctly.\u00a0 The mathematics test is a grade-appropriate knowledge test which incorporates questions from the fields of number, space and measurement, patterns and algebra, and data interpretation and analysis. \u00a0Finally, the written expression test asks your child to write a specific type of passage, based on a given topic. It will be assessed on the basis of relevance, spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure and paragraphing. Two specialist schools in Victoria currently have purpose-designed scholarship tests administered through Edutest.\u00a0 These are the John Monash Science School and the Elizabeth Blackburn Sciences School.\u00a0\u00a0 Information about these tests is available at https:\/\/www.edutest.com.au\/pa-scholarshiptesting.htm<\/a>, and the schools\u2019 websites.\u00a0 The tests for these schools focus on mathematical and scientific ability.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Edutest website provides online practice tests for students in years 4 to 11. These are shorter tests than the actual scholarship tests, having only 20 questions each.\u00a0 However, they are useful for helping your child to understand the examination format and style, and for giving them some practice in the essential skill of reading and interpreting examination questions.\u00a0 The practice examinations are available from https:\/\/www.edutest.<\/a>com<\/a>.au\/pa-online.htm<\/a>.\u00a0 Parents must purchase the exams, which students can then access for a period of three months.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n These tests are available for students entering years 3 to 11 at schools which are registered with AAS. AAS produces and administers tests which are customised to each school\u2019s needs. Individual schools are able to set their own testing dates. Remote, interstate and overseas students can also be tested using AAS tests. The tests are timed, and aim to assess students\u2019 higher-order critical thinking skills. They include tests in abstract reasoning and problem solving, mathematics achievement and reasoning, reading comprehension and written expression. The first three tests are usually 40-45 minutes long, while the written expression test is 25 minutes long. Further details of each of these tests are available on the AAS website: http:\/\/www.academicassessment.com.au\/parents\/scholarship-tests\/<\/a>. Depending on the school, parents may or may not receive a report on their child\u2019s results. The school decides on the award of scholarships, using the AAS scholarship test results in conjunction with other factors such as interviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n AAS does not provide sample examination papers. However, it should be noted that questions are usually arranged in increasing order of difficulty. If students are having difficulty with a particular question, they should skip it and move onto the next question as many students do not complete these tests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of your child\u2019s ability, it is important to realise that they will be competing for a small number of scholarships against students who have been extensively tutored from a young age for this very purpose. Thus, it is important for your child to do some test preparation and practise several past or mock test papers prior to the testing day. Depending on your child\u2019s grade level, the selective high school tests and OC class tests may also provide worthwhile practice for your child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some information about preparing for the ACER scholarships tests is available on the ACER website. This includes a few past tests that are available for purchase at each level.\u00a0 The Edutest website also provides abbreviated practice examinations for a fee at https:\/\/www.edutest.com.au\/pa-online.htm. \u00a0\u00a0AAS does not provide online practice exams.\u00a0 \u00a0A number of practice scholarship tests<\/strong> are available on the SubjectCoach Online Scholarship practice<\/a> website. In the meantime, as the scholarship exams share many common features with selective high school exams, it is worthwhile having your child complete a number of practice selective high schools exams that are appropriate for their grade level.\u00a0 Some such examinations are available on the SubjectCoach practice tests page<\/a>.\u00a0 In particular, it is essential for your child to practice reading and interpreting complex questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the tests require your child to think clearly, it is essential that they are well rested and adequately nourished on the morning of the tests.\u00a0 They should definitely take some snacks, lunch and water to consume during breaks along to the test centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclaimer: SubjectCoach is neither affiliated nor associated with ACER, AAS or EduTest in way or form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scholarship Tests Many private schools across Australia offer partial or full-fee scholarships to a select number of academically gifted students.\u00a0 These scholarships are highly competitive.\u00a0 Private schools generally award these scholarships on the basis of a scholarship examination administered by the school and an interview.\u00a0 Each school will set its own scholarship testing day, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":422,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions\/422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.subjectcoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Edutest Scholarship Tests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The AAS Scholarship Tests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Preparing for Scholarship Tests<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n