Applying for Year 9 entry in 2026
The examination for Year 9 entry in 2026 will be held on Saturday 14 June 2025. Applications to sit the entrance exam close on 2 May 2025.
About selective entry high schools
Victoria has four selective entry high schools that provide a specialist environment for academically high-achieving students in Years 9 to 12.
These schools are:
- Nossal High School (co-educational) in Berwick.
- Suzanne Cory High School (co-educational) in Werribee.
- The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (girls' school) in Melbourne.
- Melbourne High School (boys' school) in South Yarra.
Contact the selective entry high schools directly if you have specific questions about their subjects and programs or about enrolling for Year 10 and above.
The following videos provide an overview of each selective entry high school.
Nossal High School
Suzanne Cory High School
The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
Melbourne High School
The following videos depict student voice and their experience attending a selective entry high school:
Advice for selective entry high school students and prospective students.
Benefits and surprises of attending a selective entry high school
Selective Entry High School alumni revisit their experiences and share their memories.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for and attend a selective entry high school, candidates must be in their second year of secondary schooling (Year 8), have not previously sat the examination for Year 9 entry, and be:
- an Australian citizen; or
- a New Zealand citizen residing in Australia; or
- holders of a visa or ImmiCard, which would exempt them from paying International Student Fees to attend a Victorian government school (for further information, refer to International Student Visa Fee Table at: https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/international-student-program/policy and the ImmiCard section of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s website at: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Refu/Immi; or
- able to meet the citizenship or visa criteria by the time offers are made.
Candidates who are offered a place must provide original documents, such as a Certificate of Evidence of Australian Citizenship, visa and/or birth certificate, to the selective entry high school to complete and maintain enrolment. Offers and enrolment will be withdrawn if eligibility requirements for enrolment are not met and maintained.
Students attending government and non-government schools are eligible to apply, as are home-school students who are registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority.
Fee-paying international students enrolled in Victorian schools are not eligible to apply.
The eligibility criteria apply to students living in Victoria, interstate or overseas.
Applying for entry to selective entry high schools
Each year approximately 1,000 places are available for Year 9 entry across the four selective entry high schools (SEHS).
A centralised selection process, including an entrance examination, is used to determine entry to the schools at Year 9. A small number of places may become available at Years 10 and 11, and entrance at these year levels is managed directly by the schools.
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) manages the applications and offers process for Year 9 entry on behalf of the Department.
Applications must be made online at: https://vic.registration.selectiveentry.acer.org
To commence an application, candidates need:
- their Victorian Student Number (VSN), if relevant.
- a method of payment for the application fees.
- both their parent/carer’s and their own Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN) if applying under the Equity Consideration Category.
Special arrangements for the examination (e.g. wheelchair access, materials for visually impaired candidates) will be organised where required. Requests for special arrangements must be made by through the application portal by the deadline provided. Please see ACER website.
Application fee
Applications are free for low-income or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. If applying under the low-income category, candidates must enter their parent/carer’s and their own Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN) on the application. This information will be verified with Services Australia.
There is no need for candidates to provide their CRN if they do not hold either a Commonwealth Health Care Card or a Pension Card and qualify for income support benefits.
If a candidate’s eligibility to have the fee waived cannot be confirmed, candidates will be required to pay the application fee.
Requests for accessibility arrangements for the examination
Special arrangements for the examination (e.g. wheelchair access, materials for visually impaired candidates) will be organised where required. Requests for special arrangements must be made by through the application portal by the deadline provided.
All requests must be made using the special arrangements application form in the application portal.
Requests to sit the examination remotely or on an alternative date
Subject to the provision of suitable evidence, candidates may be eligible to sit the examination interstate or overseas or on an alternative date in the following circumstances:
| Circumstance | Example of suitable evidence |
| Religious reasons | Supporting statement from a religious leader or a community referee |
| Eligible candidates who are currently living and studying interstate or overseas | Suitable evidence from workplace, school principal (outlining enrolment status, date of enrolment, current year level at the school) and/or proof of address |
Candidates enrolled in a Victorian school but who, at the time of the examination:
| Suitable evidence from the exchange program, official organising body or workplace. |
Requests to sit the examination outside of Melbourne on alternative dates due to reasons not outlined above (for example, family holidays or special occasions) cannot be accommodated.
All requests must be made using the special arrangements application form in the application portal. Requests must be accompanied by suitable evidence and submitted before the deadline provided.
ACER may contact a candidate’s school principal or designated parents/carers if clarification is required.
The remote sitting must take place in the timeframe specified by ACER. During the examination, the candidate must be supervised by a representative of an approved invigilating organisation determined by ACER.
Examination
The selective entry high schools’ examination takes place in June each year. The examination takes place across multiple venues, with applicants assigned to an examination centre via email once the applications period has closed.
The duration of the entrance exam is approximately 4 hours. The entrance exam assesses students’ aptitude for higher order thinking, problem-solving, reasoning, creative thinking, comprehension, interpretation and their ability to apply known concepts to situations. The required knowledge in any section will not exceed that found in the Year 8 curriculum.
The exam contains a series of tests including multiple choice questions and written tasks as outlined below:
- reading and mathematics reasoning tasks – these assess a student’s ability to use their life and academic knowledge and skills and apply them to problems and tasks using the information provided in the task.
- general ability tasks – these assess a student’s ability to learn in each of the tested areas by allowing the student to demonstrate their higher order thinking and problem-solving skills.
- two writing tasks.
Sample questions are available at: https://selectiveentry.acer.org
Selection policy
Places at the selective entry high schools are offered as follows:
- Standard merit – 85% of places will be offered based on rank from exam performance.
- Equity consideration – up to 10% of places will be offered based on exam performance and ability to meet the conditions for equity (see below).
- Principal discretion – up to 5% of places will be offered at the discretion of the principal of the individual selective entry high school, provided the cap from any one source school has not been reached.
Cap on source school offers
There is a cap on the number of offers that can be made to students from a single source school. A source school is the school a student is enrolled in at Year 8.
This cap is designed to minimise the impact on source schools and means that no more than 4% of students from a single source school (excluding prep to Year 9 schools) are offered standard and principal discretion places at selective entry high schools. For schools that are prep to Year 9 only, a 10% cap applies.
The equity consideration category is not subject to the cap.
Students currently enrolled in home-school, an interstate or overseas school are treated as discrete school cohorts, with a cap on the places on offer. Places at the co-educational selective entry high schools may also be subject to the use of a special measure by the principal to ensure they maintain a gender balance.
Equity consideration category
Candidates are eligible for a place in the equity consideration category if they:
- have parents with either a Commonwealth Health Care Card or a Pension Card, and who qualify for income support benefits and/or
- identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.
The application form requires both the primary cardholder and applicant’s CRN. The cardholder status will be electronically confirmed by Centrelink.
This verification process confirms a child’s eligibility for Equity Consideration only. No further detail (e.g. personal financial information) is required.
For more details about Centrelink please visit: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/centrelink
Principal discretion category
Up to 5% of places can be filled through the principal discretion category.
Following the examination, the principals of the selective entry high schools may invite selected students to submit an application under the principal’s discretion category.
Principals will consider examination results and may also consider other factors such as a candidate’s preferred school, gender, or siblings of candidates.
The principals then shortlist and interview candidates from the applications received and make offers directly to students.
An invitation to submit an application for the principal’s discretion category is not an offer of a place at the school.
Offers process
Offers of places at selective entry high schools are made in rounds, based on the availability of places at the schools. Most places in selective entry high schools are filled in the first round, with a small number of places offered through subsequent rounds.
Dates for the offers round are published at: https://selectiveentry.acer.org/vic
Notification to source schools
Government schools will be notified of their students that have accepted a place at a selective entry high school to support the transfer of students and assist in resource planning.
It is the responsibility of parents/carers to notify their child’s non-government school if they have accepted a place at a selective entry high school.
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