Scholarship exam prep
Private school scholarship exams: a guide for Melbourne parents.
Year 7 and Year 9 scholarship exams can open the door to a Melbourne private school, and to a fee reduction for the years that follow. Here’s what the EduTest, the ACER scholarship tests and individual school exams involve, what a tutor helps with, and where Tuterly, our Years 7 to 10 maths app, fits in.
The test formats
EduTest, ACER, and individual school exams.
EduTest
Five sections: reading, mathematics, written expression, verbal reasoning and numerical reasoning.
ACER Scholarship Tests
Three papers: written expression, humanities (comprehension and interpretation), and mathematics.
Individual school entry exams
Several schools run their own entry process in addition to the standard tests, with their own essay prompts and maths problem sets. Worth practising for specifically if you’ve shortlisted a school.
Tests are usually sat the year before entry: in primary school for Year 7 entry, and in Year 8 for Year 9 entry. Dates vary by school, so check each one.
Schools families ask us about
Melbourne private schools families ask about.
Most Melbourne independent schools use either EduTest or ACER results, sometimes both, for scholarships and entry. Which test a school uses, and whether it runs its own essay or interview round, can change from year to year, so check the school’s website before you plan.
- Camberwell Grammar School
- Methodist Ladies' College (MLC)
- Presbyterian Ladies' College (PLC)
- Trinity Grammar School
- Carey Baptist Grammar School
- Scotch College
- Xavier College
- Genazzano FCJ College
- Ruyton Girls' School
- Strathcona Girls Grammar
- Wesley College
- Haileybury
Tutoring and the app
Different jobs, and it helps to be clear which is which.
Scholarship tests reward reasoning, reading, writing and speed, as well as maths. A tutor can cover all of that. Tuterly covers one thing: the school maths a student in Years 7 to 10 is learning now, which the maths section of a Year 9 scholarship test builds on.
What a tutor helps with
- Reading and marking practice writing, and explaining what would make it stronger
- Teaching the reasoning question types and working on speed
- Running timed practice papers and going through them afterwards
- Practising for the school interview, if there is one
What Tuterly covers
- Years 7 to 10 school maths, with topics from the Victorian Curriculum 2.0
- Snap a question they got wrong in class or a school test, see the worked solution, then master fresh versions
- Topic check and Fix my mistakes to keep their maths topics solid
- Study notes: a revision sheet on a topic, as a PDF
Tuterly doesn’t cover the reasoning, reading or writing sections, doesn’t run timed scholarship papers, and isn’t built for primary school students sitting Year 7 entry tests.
What it costs
Tutoring by the hour, the app by the week.
A private tutor in Melbourne usually costs $80 to $100 an hour, and scholarship preparation often runs for months. That’s worth it for the writing and reasoning sections, where feedback from a person matters most.
For keeping Years 7 to 10 maths solid between sessions, or on its own, Tuterly is $8.99 a week or $29.99 a month at the launch price (from 1 April 2027, $17.99 a week or $59.99 a month), with a 7-day free trial on the monthly plan only, cancel any time. At $8.99, a whole week costs less than 10 minutes with a private tutor. It’s coming soon to the App Store on iPhone, with Android soon after.
Keep their school maths solid, one question at a time.
Tuterly turns every missed maths question into practice tailored towards the student, not just a generic worksheet.
Coming soon on iPhone. Android soon after.