What is meant by the following sentence: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

Having a warm personality will find you more friends than being cold

Just like bees, flies are more attracted to sweet things

If you are hunting something, it's better to lure it with something yummy

Being friends with the flies is like honey

More people will be entertained by you if you are pretty

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I've heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me. What does 'and sweetest - in the gale - is heard' most probably refer to?

Hope sounds best in dire circumstances

Hope is made stronger when it is tried

Hope occurs everywhere, in any condition, and endures

Hope is the best virtue to possess

Selective Entry Past Papers: Free Practice Questions

Where can you get selective entry past papers?

In Victoria you can’t, and it saves a lot of searching to know that plainly. The providers who write the selective entry and scholarship assessments Victorian schools use keep their papers confidential; genuine past papers are not released, and anything sold as one is a reconstruction. Most of what ranks for this search is New South Wales material, where the department does publish practice tests — a different system, a different format, and not what a Victorian student will sit.

What can be known is the shape: which question types appear, how they are worded, how many options each carries, and what separates the right answer from the near-miss. That is knowable because it is stable, and it is what practice material can honestly reproduce. The questions below are Edutest-style and ACER-style samples in Argo’s own house style — written to resemble the question types these exams use, with a worked explanation behind every answer.

EduTest is a trademark of its respective owner. Argo Academics is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by EduTest, ACER, or any examination provider. “Edutest-style” describes practice material written to resemble the question types these exams use.

What does a Year 7 or Year 9 entry paper ask?

The English half runs on three things. Verbal reasoning tests how precisely a student holds word meanings — synonyms and antonyms, odd-one-out, analogies, and short logic chains. Reading comprehension puts an unseen passage under a clock and asks about argument, tone, inference and vocabulary in context. Timed writing asks for a persuasive or narrative piece in a fixed window, usually around thirty minutes.

The demands overlap almost entirely between Year 7 scholarship exams and the Year 9 selective entry exam — the passages get longer and the vocabulary harder, but the question types are the same ones. That is why one set of preparation serves both.

Verbal reasoning

Four questions in the format these sections use: five options, one defensible answer. Try each before opening the reasoning.

1. Happy is to sad as angry is to:
- A. Calm
- B. Awkward
- C. Troubled
- D. Upset
- E. Delighted
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: E — Delighted
Happy and sad are antonyms — exact opposites, like hot and cold. So the answer must be the direct opposite of angry (‘a strong feeling of displeasure’). Delighted (‘highly pleased’) is that opposite. Calm is a false lead: it's the absence of both anger and delight, not the opposite of either. Awkward, troubled, and upset all still carry a feeling of displeasure, so none of them are opposite in meaning to angry.
2. Four of the following words are alike in some way. Which option does not fit?
- A. Joyous
- B. Blissful
- C. Jocund
- D. Frail
- E. Inviting
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: D — Frail
Joyous, blissful, jocund (cheerful and light-hearted), and inviting are all positive words describing a happy state or an appealing quality. Frail (‘weak and delicate’) doesn't share that positive, happy character, making it the odd one out.
3. If all GEFS are HENS, some GEFS are DENS, some HENS are WENS, all THENS are KENS It makes sense that:
- A. No WENS are HENS
- B. Some KENS are GENS
- C. Some WENS are DENS
- D. All DENS are HENS
- E. None
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: C — Some WENS are DENS
Write each condition as a relation: G=H (all), G~D (some), H~W (some), T=K (all). Chaining the ones that share a term: D ~ G = H ~ W, and separately T = K. Some WENS are DENS sits correctly on that first chain, linked by 'some' relations throughout. No WENS are HENS is wrong because H and W are clearly linked. Some KENS are GENS is wrong because K and G sit on separate, unconnected chains. All DENS are HENS overstates the relation — it's only ever a 'some' link, never 'all'.
4. Life is to oxygen as fire is to:
- A. Ember
- B. Spark
- C. Warmth
- D. Kindling
- E. Light
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: D — Kindling
Oxygen is consumed to sustain and prolong life. Kindling — easily combustible material — is consumed to sustain and prolong a fire, making the relation match. Warmth and light are produced by fire rather than feeding it. An ember is usually what's left at the end of a fire. A spark only starts a fire; it isn't a resource that keeps it going.

Reading comprehension

Four more, on unseen material. Under exam conditions these come with a passage and a clock; here the point is the question type rather than the pace.

1. There was almost nothing in the room, just a lonely, gleaming lamp. The word 'gleaming' in this sentence means:
- A. Shining
- B. Bright
- C. Isolated
- D. Intuitive
- E. Angry
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: A — Shining
Gleaming means 'shining brightly, especially with reflected light' — shining is the closest match. Bright is close but less precise, since gleaming specifically implies a reflected shine rather than general brightness. Isolated is a trap: it repeats the idea already given by 'lonely' rather than describing the lamp's light. Intuitive and angry don't sensibly describe a lamp at all.
2. What is meant by the following sentence: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
- A. Just like bees, flies are more attracted to sweet things
- B. If you are hunting something, it's better to lure it with something yummy
- C. Having a warm personality will find you more friends than being cold
- D. Being friends with the flies is like honey
- E. More people will be entertained by you if you are pretty
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: C — Having a warm personality will find you more friends than being cold
A proverb states a general truth beyond its literal, physical image — so any option that stays literal about flies, bees, or honey (A, B, D) misreads the form entirely. Honey stands for warmth and kindness, vinegar for bitterness; the saying means a warm personality wins people over more than a cold one. Option E assumes Option C's reading is already established and narrows it incorrectly to physical attractiveness.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I've heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, Emily Dickinson
3. What is the meaning of the word 'abash' in this poem?
- A. Attack
- B. Confront
- C. Confound
- D. Bathe
- E. Clean
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: C — Confound
Substituting each option into the line shows which one holds: 'that could bathe/clean the little Bird' makes no sense after 'sore must be the storm' — a storm severe enough to bathe or clean something isn't threatening. Attack and confront are close but too general. Confound ('to throw into confusion or perplexity') precisely matches abash's meaning of 'to destroy the self-possession or confidence of someone'.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I've heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, Emily Dickinson
4. What does 'and sweetest - in the gale - is heard' most probably refer to?
- A. Hope sounds best in dire circumstances
- B. Hope is made stronger when it is tried
- C. Hope occurs everywhere, in any condition, and endures
- D. Hope is the best virtue to possess
- E. Meaning is incomplete
Show the answer and the reasoning
Answer: A — Hope sounds best in dire circumstances
Poetic word order is a feature, not an error: 'the sweetest – in the gale – is heard' reorders to 'is heard best in the storm'. A gale (a harsh wind) stands for a dire or difficult situation, so the line means hope sounds best precisely when circumstances are hardest. Options B, C, and D are each plausible ideas elsewhere in the poem, but none of them is what this specific line states.

The timed writing task

One prompt, and no answer key — a writing task does not have one. What it has is what an assessor is reading for, which is the part a student cannot easily see in their own paragraph.

Some schools have banned phones entirely during school hours. Others let students carry them and trust them to use them sensibly. Which approach is right? Write a persuasive piece arguing your position.

What an assessor is looking for

Thirty minutes, on paper, no research. Spend two of those minutes planning and then commit — the most common failure in a timed composition is a student who spends fifteen minutes deciding what to write and has no time left to write it well. An assessor is reading for a position stated early and held, reasons that are actually reasons rather than restatements, at least one concession to the other side, and sentences that vary in length. They are not reading for a memorised opening.

Where to go from eight questions

Eight questions show the shape. They do not show whether a student can hold that standard across a full paper under a clock, which is the thing an exam actually measures. Three ways on, in the order most families need them:

The three-pack of full practice assessments — three complete papers with fully worked solutions, to sit under proper timed conditions.
The twenty-question practice assessment — the same house style, marked as you go, with a score at the end. Nothing to fill in.
The scholarship and entrance assessment guide — one chapter per question type, for when a particular type is the problem rather than the pace. The Victorian selective entry page sets out how the whole path fits together.

The Three-Pack of Full Practice Assessments

Three complete papers and their worked solutions, free. The questions above are the same house style, at full length and under a clock.