Selective School Program

Selective high schools are government schools for high potential and gifted students.  

Selective schools offer equity of access: they enrol students based on their ability, not their background.

High-potential students are those whose potential exceeds that of students of the same age in one or more domains Gifted students are those whose potential significantly exceeds that of students of the same age in one or more domains Highly gifted students are those whose potential vastly exceeds that of students of the same age in one or more domains:

Research demonstrates that grouping high-potential and gifted students together:

• Provides academic benefits.
• is good for students’ social and emotional well-being.

Test Structure :

• Reading – 40 Mins – 30 Questions (Multiple Choice)
• Mathematical Reasoning – 40 Mins – 35 Questions (Multiple Choice)
• Thinking Skills – 40 Mins – 40 Questions (Multiple Choice)
• Writing – 30 Mins – 01 Question (Open Response)

Reading:

• A narrative or descriptive extract from a work of adolescent fiction
• Two short extracts on a related theme, typically one from the past contrasted with a more modern piece
• A poem
• A factual text with six sentences removed.
• A factual text is divided into six paragraphs, and a set of seven summary phrases.
• Four short texts on a related theme

Mathematical Reasoning:

• Mental Maths questions

This mathematics reasoning test is about application and problem solving using mathematics. Most of the questions involve very simple adding, subtracting, multiplication and/or division – but what’s hard is figuring out what mathematics to use, how to use it and when to use it to solve the question.

Thinking Skills:

• Identifying similarity
• Finding procedures
• Evaluating evidence
• Evaluating reasoning
• Identifying mistakes
• Logical analysis

Writing:

• General description
• criteria: content, form, organisation and style
• criteria: sentences, punctuation, and spelling