Write each change on its own line, and the minus signs stop slipping.
Practice test 1 is free. No card needed.
Number questions are solved by hand, one line per step: each temperature change, each factor pair, each ones digit. Children in Year 7 now sit the exam in Year 8 , expected in June 2027.
Checked by the SelectiveReady team on 12 October 2026 · Updated 3 November 2026 · How we check facts
Independent. Not affiliated with the Victorian Department of Education or ACER.
A number question uses negatives, factors or patterns in digits, set inside a short story. It sits in the Mathematics part, which shares a 60-minute sitting with Quantitative Reasoning.
ACER says the Maths part tests year-level maths knowledge and reasoning, and using maths in real-world contexts. The knowledge needed is no more than the Year 8 curriculum, so the difficulty is in the care, not in new topics.
These three are our own, from easier to harder: a temperature change, chairs in rows and the last digit of a huge number. Each one shows the answer and the working, so read them with your child.
Ask your child to read the working aloud, line by line. Then ask where a wrong option goes astray, such as a flipped sign or a missing pair.
At 6 am the temperature at a ski village was −4 °C. By 2 pm it had risen by 11 degrees. By midnight it had fallen by 9 degrees from its 2 pm temperature. What was the temperature at midnight?
Answer: B
Answer: B
Follow the changes in order. Rising 11 degrees from −4 °C gives 7 °C, and falling 9 degrees from 7 °C gives −2 °C. 2 °C comes from working out 9 − 7 instead of 7 − 9, so the sign is wrong. −6 °C comes from mixing up which change was a rise and which was a fall.
Mr Dang is setting out 72 chairs in a hall in equal rows. He wants at least 4 rows and at least 4 chairs in each row. How many different ways can he do this? (6 rows of 12 counts as different from 12 rows of 6.)
Answer: C
Answer: C
List the factor pairs of 72: 1 × 72, 2 × 36, 3 × 24, 4 × 18, 6 × 12 and 8 × 9. Only the last three have both numbers at least 4, and each can be used either way round, so there are 3 × 2 = 6 ways. 3 forgets to turn each pair around, and 12 counts every factor of 72, ignoring both limits.
3 to the power 2026 is added to 7 to the power 2026. What is the ones digit of the answer?
Answer: D
Answer: D
Look for a pattern in the ones digits. Powers of 3 end in 3, 9, 7, 1, then repeat; powers of 7 end in 7, 9, 3, 1. 2026 leaves remainder 2 when divided by 4, so both numbers end in 9, and 9 + 9 = 18 ends in 8. 0 is tempting because 3 + 7 = 10, but the powers don't end in 3 and 7.
Get every step onto paper, because signs and pairs slip in the head. These steps are ours, not ACER's, and they come from the working in the questions above.
When a temperature rises and falls, write the start, then one line for each change. Signs slip in the head, not on paper.
For rows, groups or factors, start at 1 and go up, so no pair is missed. Then cross out the pairs that break the rules.
Words such as at least, or counts as different, change the answer. Mark them before counting.
Don't work out a huge power in full. Write the first few ones digits, see where they repeat, then use the cycle.
ACER suggests your child make an informed guess and come back to it at the end if there is time.
The wrong options are not random: each is the answer one slip produces. Name the slip with your child and add its check to the working.
Build short, cheap habits rather than long sessions.
When the working makes sense, try Practice test 1 from our selective entry practice tests. It's free, and its results by skill show whether number questions still cost marks once they're mixed with the rest of Maths.
For more worked questions, see maths sample questions, and for the whole part, VIC selective entry mathematics.
Practice test 1 marks every answer and shows results by skill: what your child already does well and the three skills to work on next.
Practise for the real test
Practice test 1 is free. Then packs from A$109 for 12 months, or A$9 a week, per exam.