ASET (GATE WA) exam format: the four components

The Academic Selective Entrance Test (ASET) is the standardised paper the Western Australian Department of Education uses to rank applicants for Perth Modern School and its Gifted and Talented Secondary Selective Entrance programs — the programs most families call GATE. It is the paper Braintree Coaching Australia prepares WA children for through our ASET (GATE WA) selective entry preparation programme. This page sets out what each of the four components measures, how long each one runs, and how the component scores become a single Total Standard Score.

What is the ASET (GATE WA) test?

The ASET is a four-component cognitive-ability paper used by the Western Australian Department of Education to select students for Perth Modern School and the academic Gifted and Talented programs hosted inside comprehensive state secondary schools. It measures reasoning across four domains — verbal, written, numerical and abstract — rather than year-level curriculum recall, so it sits deliberately further from the WA primary curriculum than a school assessment does.

The test runs once a year and is sat on paper. Your child receives one answer booklet used for all four tests, shades multiple-choice answers in pencil because the grids are read by computer scanners, and does rough working by hand in the question booklet or on the blank back page of the answer booklet. Applications and testing are run centrally by the Department through its Gifted and Talented testing pages. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has published roles in the process — it designs the secure descriptors used to mark the writing component, and it handles interstate and overseas testing logistics and fees — but the program and the testing are the Department's.

The ASET is sat for Year 7 entry, which children sit while they are in Year 6, and it is also sat for entry at Years 9, 10 and 11. The Department publishes no entry point at Year 8 or Year 12.

Which four components make up the ASET test?

The ASET is made up of four components: Reading Comprehension, Communicating Ideas in Writing, Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning. Three are multiple-choice; Communicating Ideas in Writing is a single timed handwritten response. The four components carry equal weight inside the Total Standard Score. Component timings and question counts below are published by the Department in the ASET Handbook.

Component	Duration	Questions	What it measures
Reading Comprehension	35 minutes	35 questions	Higher-order comprehension, inference, comparison and interpretation across several stimulus texts.
Communicating Ideas in Writing	25 minutes	1 written response	Sustained writing in response to a single prompt, marked against ASET criteria by a minimum of two independent markers.
Quantitative Reasoning	35 minutes	35 questions	Mathematical reasoning under time pressure — number patterns, data interpretation, ratios, probability and logical problem-solving.
Abstract Reasoning	20 minutes	35 questions	Visual pattern recognition in two published question types: Next in Sequence and Complete the Pattern.

Each multiple-choice question offers four alternatives labelled A, B, C and D. There is a single 10-minute break, taken between the Communicating Ideas in Writing and Quantitative Reasoning tests. Working is done by hand: the multiple-choice grids are scanner-read pencil marks, and rough working belongs in the question booklet or on the blank back page of the answer booklet.

How is ASET testing time divided across the four components?

The Department publishes a timing for each component and the length of the single break, but it does not publish a total sitting time, so this page does not state one. Adding the four published component timings gives 115 minutes of testing plus a 10-minute break — that sum is our arithmetic on the Department's published rows, not a departmental figure, and it excludes instructions, roll marking and dismissal on the day.

• Reading Comprehension — 35 minutes, 35 questions. Roughly sixty seconds per question on our arithmetic, but the stimulus texts have to be read carefully before the questions are answered, so steady pacing matters more than speed-reading.
• Communicating Ideas in Writing — 25 minutes, 1 response. A short planning window, one written response and a quick edit at the end. Length is not a criterion, though a very short piece may not give markers enough to evaluate.
• 10-minute break. The one break in the paper, taken between the writing and quantitative tests.
• Quantitative Reasoning — 35 minutes, 35 questions. Roughly sixty seconds per question, with time recovered for the harder reasoning items if the easier ones are banked quickly.
• Abstract Reasoning — 20 minutes, 35 questions. The tightest pacing in the paper, at roughly 34 seconds per question on the same arithmetic. Working quickly without sacrificing accuracy is the central skill.

How is the ASET test scored?

The ASET is scored on a standardised scale: each component raw score is converted to a standardised score, and the four standardised scores are added together to give the Total Standard Score (TSS), which the Department uses to rank applicants. All four tests are worth the same amount, and the Department states plainly that the scores are not percentages or percentiles. There is no penalty for guessing, so your child should mark an answer for every multiple-choice question.

1. Raw scores. Each multiple-choice component is marked on correct answers, one point each, with no deduction for a wrong answer. Communicating Ideas in Writing is scored by a minimum of two independent markers, specially trained to score the response against ASET marking criteria, using secure descriptors designed specifically for the ASET by ACER.
2. What the writing markers weigh. The Department publishes the basis for the writing score rather than a named three-part rubric: relevance to the prompt, the complexity and interest of the ideas, style and form, the strength of the plot or message, organisation and coherence, distinctiveness of voice and tone, and the fluency of the language.
3. Standardisation. Raw scores become standardised scores so that results are comparable across the cohort that sat the test.
4. Equal weighting. All four components contribute equally to the TSS; no component is double-counted.
5. Total Standard Score (TSS). The ASET Performance Report is emailed to the addresses on the application and shows a standardised score for each of the four tests, the TSS itself, and the highest score any student achieved in each test that year. The TSS is what ranks applicants for program offers.

A minimum TSS of 209.5 is required to be considered for an academic program, and a score of 209.5 or higher does not guarantee an offer. Beyond that floor, the Department publishes per-program minimum entrance scores — the lowest score that received an offer in previous years, after all offers were completed — on its performance reports page. For Perth Modern School those were 247.2 for 2024 entry and 244.34 for 2025 entry (Year 7 entry). The Department cautions that these figures are a guide only, may change every year, and are usually lower than Round 1 or Round 2 offer scores, so treat any quoted minimum as indicative rather than a target to clear.

Which schools and programs use the ASET test?

The ASET is used by the Western Australian Department of Education for entry into Perth Modern School and the academic Gifted and Talented programs hosted inside comprehensive state secondary schools. A child may list a maximum of three preferences on the application form, drawn from the academic, arts and languages options, and one ASET sitting feeds the ranking for every academic program on that list.

• The program network. The Department states that its Gifted and Talented academic, arts and languages programs are available at 24 select public secondary schools. That figure spans all three streams together, so it is not a count of academic programs on its own.
• Year 7 academic vacancies. For the 2027 intake the Department's applicant guidelines publish vacancies school by school across 16 face-to-face academic schools, plus an online academic program for eligible country students. Perth Modern School carries the largest single allocation at 225 places.
• Academic entry is ASET only. For academic applicants, the placement testing is the ASET and nothing else. Arts applicants also complete an audition or workshop, and possibly an interview; languages applicants may be interviewed.

Regional applicants are tested at their closest regional centre rather than travelling to Perth.

When does the ASET application cycle run?

Applications, testing and offers run on one published statewide calendar, set out on the Department's key dates and application guidelines page. These are the anchor dates for the 2027 entry cycle.

Stage	Published date (2027 entry)
Applications open	Tuesday 14 October 2025
Applications close	6 pm Friday 6 February 2026
Year 7 ASET sitting	Saturday 7 March 2026
Round 1 offers issued	Monday 22 June 2026

Applications for Years 9, 10 and 11 entry run on the same cycle: for 2027 entry the Department published Sunday 8 March 2026 for metropolitan applicants sitting under standard conditions, the day after the Year 7 sitting. The number of vacancies in those older years varies from year to year, because they depend on places coming free after the Year 7 cohort is filled, and some schools report none at all. Confirm the current cycle's dates on the Department's page before you diarise anything: the Year 7 sitting is a fixed Saturday, and the application close is a hard deadline with a time on it, not a month.

What do we see WA families get wrong before the ASET?

Across our own ASET mock reviews, four patterns show up repeatedly (aset-mistake-bank), and all four are format and pacing problems rather than ability problems.

• Abstract Reasoning collapses under time pressure. It is the shortest component with the same 35 questions as the long ones, and children who have never been timed on it run out of paper.
• The writing component is under-practised against what markers actually weigh. Children draft to a school-essay habit instead of responding to one prompt in 25 minutes with ideas, coherence and voice.
• Classroom shortcuts carry into Quantitative Reasoning. Written working by hand, under time, is a separate skill from mental arithmetic in class, and it needs its own practice.
• The first full-length mock is left until the final month. By then there is no time left to act on what it shows.

Nothing on that list is fixed by more content. It is fixed by timed practice on the real component lengths, early enough that a weak component still has months to move.

What does this mean for ASET preparation?

A child who is comfortable with Year 5 and Year 6 maths and reading still needs targeted work in three places. First, the timed reasoning sections, which most state-curriculum classrooms do not teach explicitly. Second, the writing task, which is marked against ASET criteria under tight time pressure. Third, Abstract Reasoning, the most time-pressured component, which rewards methodical pattern practice. Reading Comprehension at Year 6 to Year 7 level rewards inference and interpretation rather than literal recall.

For a structured plan covering each component, the section-by-section drills and the suggested cadence of practice tests, see our ASET preparation strategies. For how TSS results are reported and read against Perth Modern and GATE minimum entrance scores, see our ASET results interpretation. For the test-day routine — the night before, the morning of, at the venue and after — see our ASET test day guidelines. For the questions parents ask most often about eligibility, application steps and results, see our ASET (GATE WA) frequently asked questions.