Edutest Practice Questions: Free Resources for Queensland Academies 2026

What does the Queensland Academies Edutest actually test?

The Queensland Academies Entrance Test is a reasoning-based entrance examination made up of five components: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Written Expression. Queensland Academies states that the test "is a series of tests approximately 3 hours of duration that will be facilitated by Edutest".

Two entry points exist, and they are not the same:

• Year 7 entry is published for QASMT only (Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology). The application process is designed to be undertaken while a child is in Year 5.
• Year 10 entry is available at all three campuses: QASMT, QACI (Creative Industries) and QAHS (Health Sciences). On-time applications open to students from Term 3 of Year 8, for entry two years later.

Both entry points sit the same five components. A student can submit only one Queensland Academies application in a given year, across all three campuses combined.

Finding effective Edutest practice questions can be frustrating. Official sample material is limited, free resources vary enormously in quality, and the breadth of the exam means generic study books rarely hit the mark. This guide gives you five practice questions with worked solutions, the published dates and timings, and a plan for turning practice into readiness. For the full component-by-component breakdown, start with the Edutest exam format guide and the Edutest selective school and scholarship exam hub.

A detail many families overlook: the test is a reasoning test, not a curriculum test, and questions escalate in difficulty. Your child should not panic if they cannot answer every item. Strategic time allocation and knowing when to move on are skills that practice develops. Edutest does not publish a target completion rate, a standardisation formula or any per-section question count, so treat any number you see quoted for those on other sites with caution. For more on pacing and exam-day conditions, see the Edutest test day guide.

What do Edutest practice questions look like?

Edutest-style practice questions for the Queensland Academies Entrance Test are reasoning items that mirror the five published components, each paired with a worked solution that shows the method rather than only the final answer. Below are five examples, one for each component, written by Braintree Coaching Australia tutors in the style and difficulty of the real sitting. They are not official Edutest questions. Edutest does not release its papers, so no site can honestly publish real items.

Sit with your child, cover the solution, and let them attempt the question first. The value is in the discussion afterwards.

1. Verbal Reasoning: analogy

Cautious is to reckless as frugal is to: (A) thrifty (B) wealthy (C) extravagant (D) careful (E) generous

Worked solution. First name the relationship in the given pair. Cautious and reckless are opposites, so the answer must be the opposite of frugal, not a word that merely relates to money. Frugal means careful with money, so its opposite is extravagant. The answer is (C).

The traps are instructive. (A) thrifty is a synonym, and synonyms are the most common wrong answer in analogy items because they feel connected. (E) generous is about giving to others rather than spending on yourself, which is close but not opposite. Teach your child to say the relationship out loud, in a full sentence, before looking at the options.

2. Numerical Reasoning: number series

What number comes next? 3, 6, 11, 18, 27, ___

Worked solution. Take the differences between consecutive terms: 3, 5, 7, 9. The differences themselves rise by 2 each time, so the next difference is 11, and 27 + 11 = 38. The answer is 38.

Two habits fix most series questions. Write the differences underneath the sequence rather than holding them in your head, and check the rule against every term before committing. A child who tests the rule on only the first two terms will guess 36 here by assuming the differences repeat.

3. Reading Comprehension: inference

The tuckshop moved to online ordering in March. Since then the lunchtime queue has shrunk, but the number of unclaimed lunches sitting in the collection tub has climbed each week. Mrs Patel now reads a list of names over the loudspeaker at the start of second break.

The passage suggests that online ordering has: (A) reduced the amount of food the tuckshop sells (B) solved one problem and created another (C) made Mrs Patel's job easier (D) proved unpopular with students (E) increased the number of lunches ordered

Worked solution. The passage states two facts, a shorter queue and more unclaimed lunches, then shows a consequence: a staff member now reads names aloud. Nothing is said about total sales, popularity, or how many lunches are ordered, so (A), (D) and (E) go beyond the text. (C) contradicts the last sentence, which adds a task. The answer is (B).

Inference questions ask what the passage supports, never what is plausible in real life. When your child chooses an option, ask them to point at the words that make it true. If they cannot point, it is a guess.

4. Mathematics: multi-step problem

A water tank holds 240 litres when it is full. It is currently 3/8 full. How many more litres are needed to make the tank 70% full?

Worked solution. Work out both amounts in litres before comparing them. Three eighths of 240 is 240 ÷ 8 × 3 = 90 litres. Seventy per cent of 240 is 0.7 × 240 = 168 litres. The difference is 168 − 90 = 78 litres.

The most common error is answering 168, the target amount, instead of the amount to add. The second is converting 3/8 to 37.5%, subtracting 37.5 from 70, and reporting 32.5 as if percentages were litres. Multi-step questions reward a child who writes down what each number means as they go.

5. Written Expression: a 15-minute task

Your school is deciding whether to replace the oval with an all-weather covered court. Write a letter to the principal arguing for one option.

How to use 15 minutes. Two to three minutes on planning is not lost time, it is what stops a child rewriting their opening twice. A workable plan is three bullet points: the position, two reasons with a concrete example each, and the closing request.

Markers of any timed writing task look for a clear position held from start to finish, reasons supported by specifics rather than assertion, controlled paragraphing, and sentence variety. A short, finished, well-organised letter beats an ambitious one that stops mid-argument. Practise twice a week under the clock, and read the piece back aloud, since that catches most punctuation slips faster than proofreading silently.

When do Queensland Academies applications close in 2026?

Applications for Year 7 entry at QASMT in 2028 must be received by 4pm on Friday 21 August 2026. The published cycle is short, and the fee is not refundable, so the dates below are worth pinning to the fridge.

A few things the dates do not tell you:

• Applications go through the QA Portal, reached from the "Apply Now" link on the enrolments page (qaportal.aucrm.com). Admissions can be reached on (07) 3377 9366 or at admissions@qa.eq.edu.au.
• A late pathway exists but is not a second chance on equal terms. Late applications are considered only where a vacancy arises, and no timelines for late testing are published.
• Only shortlisted candidates are invited to the engagement activity. Selection weighs the Entrance Test, academic records including school reports and NAPLAN, the engagement activity, and other relevant information. No percentage weighting is published for any of them.
• Approved AARA adjustments mean an alternative sitting, which may fall on a different date to the main testing days.
• Calculators are not permitted at any Edutest sitting. Neither are rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, mobile phones or smart watches.

Are there free official Edutest sample questions online?

Yes. The most authoritative source of free practice material is the test provider itself. Edutest publishes sample questions and familiarisation materials on its official website, edutest.com.au. These resources should be your first stop, because they represent the closest available approximation of the real examination's style, difficulty and format.

On edutest.com.au you will typically find:

• Sample questions for each component that demonstrate the question format
• Guidance on what each section assesses and how questions are structured
• Information about the test environment and conditions

The official samples alone are not enough for comprehensive preparation, but they serve an irreplaceable role: showing your child exactly what the real test looks and feels like. Every other resource you use should be evaluated against this benchmark. To supplement them, work through the five questions above, a Year 5 Edutest sample paper, and a set of free mock tests under realistic timing.

What are the best free Edutest practice resources?

The best free Edutest resources are those aligned with the specific reasoning skills the test assesses, rather than generic curriculum worksheets. Beyond the official samples, several categories of free material can meaningfully support your child's preparation.

Braintree Coaching Australia's free practice materials

Braintree Coaching Australia offers free mock tests with selective-school-style questions aligned to the reasoning depth and time pressure of these examinations, written for Australian selective-entry candidates rather than adapted from overseas aptitude banks. They pair well with the curated practice in our Edutest practice resources library.

Reasoning and aptitude question banks

Many of the skills the Entrance Test assesses, particularly Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Reasoning, overlap with reasoning tests used internationally. Free question banks covering verbal analogies, number series, pattern recognition and logical deduction can supplement Edutest-specific material effectively. Look for resources that focus on reasoning processes rather than rote curriculum content. The test does not simply check whether your child has memorised formulas or vocabulary lists; it checks whether they can apply logic flexibly to unfamiliar problems.

Curriculum-aligned mathematics resources

For the Mathematics component, Year 6 to Year 9 Australian Curriculum materials provide a solid foundation, depending on your child's entry year. The Mathematics section covers numbers, algebra, measurement, data analysis and spatial reasoning, all of which align with the Australian Curriculum maintained by ACARA. Free resources from the Queensland Department of Education and reputable educational publishers can reinforce these foundations before your child meets them in reasoning-heavy formats.

Reading comprehension practice

Quality reading comprehension passages are among the most widely available free resources. Any well-crafted comprehension exercise that requires inference, vocabulary interpretation and analysis of author purpose develops the same skills the Reading Comprehension component demands. Encourage your child to practise with a variety of text types, including fiction, non-fiction, editorial and scientific writing, to build the flexible comprehension the exam rewards.

What question types appear in each Edutest component?

Each Edutest component for the Queensland Academies Entrance Test contains a defined set of question types that your child can practise by name. Knowing exactly what will appear is the foundation of targeted practice.

Verbal Reasoning question types

The Verbal Reasoning component assesses language-based reasoning through core question types:

• Sentence completion — selecting the word or phrase that best completes a sentence logically and grammatically
• Word relationships — identifying how pairs of words relate (cause and effect, part and whole, degree)
• Synonyms and antonyms — recognising words with similar or opposite meanings in context
• Classification — identifying which word does not belong in a group based on a shared characteristic
• Analogies — completing word pairs that follow the same logical relationship, as in question 1 above
• Deduction — drawing logical conclusions from given statements or premises

Numerical Reasoning question types

Numerical Reasoning tests mathematical thinking beyond standard curriculum knowledge:

• Arithmetic reasoning — multi-step problems requiring flexible application of operations
• Number series — identifying patterns in sequences and predicting the next term, as in question 2 above
• Matrices — completing grids where numbers follow row and column rules simultaneously
• Data interpretation — reading charts, tables and graphs to extract and calculate information
• Geometry reasoning — applying spatial and geometric logic to solve problems

Reading Comprehension question types

Reading Comprehension assesses both understanding and technical language skills:

• Passage comprehension — answering questions about the meaning, purpose and structure of written passages
• Grammar — identifying correct or incorrect grammatical usage
• Spelling — recognising correctly and incorrectly spelled words
• Vocabulary — understanding word meanings in context
• Punctuation — applying rules of punctuation correctly

Mathematics question types

The Mathematics component covers five curriculum-aligned areas at an advanced reasoning level:

• Numbers and operations — fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and order of operations
• Algebra — patterns, unknowns and simple equations
• Measurement — length, area, volume, time and unit conversion
• Data and statistics — interpreting and analysing data sets, with probability basics
• Space and geometry — shapes, angles, symmetry, transformations and spatial visualisation

How should my child study for each Edutest component?

Edutest preparation for the Queensland Academies works best when each component gets its own practice approach rather than a single shared plan. A one-size-fits-all schedule leaves gaps; targeted strategies close them. For broader study methods, see the Edutest prep strategies guide.

Verbal Reasoning strategy

Verbal Reasoning improves fastest when your child builds vocabulary breadth and logical reasoning habits at the same time. Daily reading of challenging texts, including editorials, science articles and quality fiction, naturally expands vocabulary. Supplement this with dedicated analogy and classification exercises that train your child to name the relationship between two words before looking at the options, which is the habit question 1 above is designed to build. Give deduction questions their own slot; formal logical reasoning is the least school-like of the question types, and ten minutes a day is enough.

Numerical Reasoning strategy

Strong foundational numeracy is the prerequisite. Make sure your child is confident with mental arithmetic, fractions and percentages before moving to pattern-based reasoning questions. Number series practice is high-yield because pattern identification transfers across question types. Matrices deserve their own sessions: they ask a child to track two rules at once, across rows and down columns, which is a way of thinking that rarely appears in Year 5 or Year 6 classwork.

Reading Comprehension strategy

Begin with untimed comprehension to build analytical depth, then introduce time pressure progressively. Focus on inference questions, the ones that ask your child to read between the lines rather than locate information stated directly in the passage. Do not neglect the technical language elements. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are among the most straightforward marks available, yet children who focus only on passage comprehension lose them. Short daily drills protect those marks.

Mathematics strategy

The Mathematics component bridges curriculum knowledge and reasoning ability. Make sure your child has a strong grasp of the relevant curriculum content for their year level, then focus on applying that knowledge to multi-step, unfamiliar problems, the style this test favours over straightforward computation. Question 4 above is a fair example of the shape: two calculations, then a comparison, with the marks lost at the final step rather than the arithmetic.

Written Expression strategy

With 15 minutes, the Written Expression task demands efficiency. Your child should allocate two to three minutes to planning and the remainder to writing. Practise producing concise, well-structured responses under strict time limits at least twice per week. Develop a reliable structure your child can deploy automatically, such as an opening position, two or three developed body paragraphs and a closing line, and remember that vocabulary range and sentence variety separate strong responses from average ones.

How do I build an Edutest practice schedule?

An Edutest practice schedule for the Queensland Academies is a phased plan that moves from diagnosis to timed full sittings over several months. The timeline below provides a framework families can adapt to their starting point and available time.

Keep the weekly total inside a sensible cap. Our academic panel's recommended maximum for scholarship and Edutest-focused preparation is around six to seven hours a week including class time, tapering in the final fortnight, and adjusted downwards if sleep, mood or family time start to suffer (prep-philosophy-weekly-caps). That is coaching guidance rather than a rule, and it works better as a ceiling than a target.

For guidance on interpreting practice scores and understanding what counts as a competitive result, see the Edutest results guide.

What do we see Queensland families get wrong?

One pattern comes up repeatedly in our tutor intake conversations with Queensland families: parents preparing for both Brisbane State High and the Queensland Academies assume the two pathways can be prepared for as one. They cannot. The tests differ (Brisbane State High's Years 7 selective intake uses ACER's HAST, while the Queensland Academies Entrance Test is delivered by Edutest), the fees differ, and the calendars differ. Preparation has to be split by pathway rather than blended, or a child ends up half-ready for both.

Two consequences follow for families running both:

• The writing tasks are not interchangeable. Fifteen minutes of Written Expression is a different exercise from a longer HAST writing task, and practising only the longer form leaves a child overrunning on the shorter one.
• The deadlines do not line up. Queensland Academies applications for Year 7 in 2028 close 4pm Friday 21 August 2026 with testing on 5 to 6 September 2026. Check each pathway's own dates rather than assuming a shared calendar.

That observation comes from our tutor intake notes across Queensland preparation (qld-selective-pathway-notes). It is a pattern we see, not published research, and it may not describe your family.

Are free or paid Edutest resources better?

Both free and paid resources play a role in effective preparation. Free materials build foundations and reveal where your child stands; paid materials add realistic full-length papers, worked solutions and expert Writing feedback. Understanding where each adds the most value helps you allocate time and budget wisely.

Note that the application fee is separate from preparation costs and is set by Queensland Academies, not by any tutoring provider: $270.00 on-time and $300.00 late, both non-refundable, for the Year 7 2028 cycle.

The most effective approach for most families is blended. Use free resources to build foundational skills and assess your child's starting point, then invest where free material is thinnest: full-length timed papers, worked solutions, and marking of the writing task. If your budget allows one paid investment, choose practice tests that explain their answers. Knowing why an option is wrong is what stops the same mistake in September. You can compare the structured options in the Edutest Ultimate course or the dedicated Queensland Academies Ultimate Pack.

How does Braintree support Queensland Academies families?

Braintree Coaching Australia's Queensland Academies preparation is built around the five components of the Entrance Test, with content calibrated to the reasoning depth, time pressure and question styles your child will meet on test day.

If you are still comparing Brisbane school pathways, our guides on Brisbane State High versus the Queensland Academies and moving to Brisbane and selective-school options put the Edutest pathway in context. For the most common parent questions, the Edutest FAQ is a useful next read.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there free official Edutest sample questions online?

Yes. The official source is edutest.com.au, where Edutest publishes free familiarisation samples for each component. The quantity is limited, so treat the official samples as a diagnostic benchmark. Braintree Coaching Australia publishes five Edutest-style practice questions with worked solutions on this page, and free mock tests with selective-style questions aligned to Edutest reasoning depth and timing.

Which Edutest sections do the Queensland Academies test?

The Queensland Academies Entrance Test has five sections: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension and Mathematics at 30 minutes each, plus Written Expression at 15 minutes. That is 165 minutes of timed testing inside a sitting Queensland Academies describes as approximately three hours. Neither Queensland Academies nor Edutest publishes how many questions each section contains. See the Edutest exam format guide for the full breakdown.

When do Queensland Academies applications close in 2026?

For Year 7 entry in 2028, applications must be received by 4pm on Friday 21 August 2026, testing day is 5 to 6 September 2026, and the notice of outcome is late Term 4 2026. The on-time application fee is $270.00 and is non-refundable; the late application fee is $300.00. Year 10 entry runs a separate cycle and its closing date for 2028 entry is published as to be confirmed.

Is the Edutest the same for QASMT, QACI, and QAHS?

The Entrance Test itself is the same five components at every campus, but the entry points differ. Year 7 entry is published for QASMT only, with applications made while a child is in Year 5. Year 10 entry is available at QASMT, QACI and QAHS, with on-time applications from Term 3 of Year 8. Year 10 candidates sit the same five components, Written Expression included. A student can submit only one Queensland Academies application in a given year.

Can my child take a calculator into the Edutest?

No. Calculators may not be brought to any Edutest sitting. The prohibited items list also covers rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, mobile phones and smart watches. Practise the Mathematics and Numerical Reasoning sections with pen and paper only, because a calculator habit at home shows up as lost time on test day.

Can my child prepare for the Edutest using only free resources?

Free resources can build strong foundations in reading, vocabulary, and curriculum-aligned maths. The areas where paid resources add the most value are realistic timed practice papers, detailed worked solutions, and expert marking of the Writing task. A blended approach typically delivers the strongest result.

How long should Edutest preparation for the Queensland Academies take?

Most families find four to six months of consistent preparation provides a solid foundation. Starting too early risks fatigue; starting too late limits skill development. Regular, manageable sessions over months consistently outperform intensive cramming in the final weeks.

How many practice tests should my child complete before the Edutest?

Most well-prepared candidates complete eight to twelve full-length timed practice tests across the preparation period, plus many shorter component-specific sessions. The quality of review after each paper matters far more than the raw number of papers attempted.

Should my child practise under timed conditions from the start?

Not at first. Begin with untimed practice so your child can build understanding without time stress. After four to six weeks, introduce timed conditions progressively. By the final month, every session should simulate the real timing of 30 minutes per reasoning component and 15 minutes for Written Expression.

Does my child need a tutor to prepare for the Queensland Academies Edutest?

Not every child needs a tutor, but structured support typically accelerates improvement. The areas where guided coaching adds the most value are Writing feedback, diagnostic assessment, and strategy for the reasoning-heavy Verbal and Numerical Reasoning sections, where self-study can be less efficient.

Related Guides

• Edutest selective school and scholarship exam hub — The full Edutest pathway, family by family
• Edutest exam format — Detailed breakdown of each Edutest component
• Edutest prep strategies — Study methods that build reasoning skill
• Edutest practice resources — Curated materials and sample questions
• Brisbane State High vs Queensland Academies — Choosing the right Brisbane pathway
• Moving to Brisbane: selective school options — A relocating family's guide
• Victoria SEHS preparation hub — Victorian selective entry for Melbourne High, Mac.Robertson, Nossal and Suzanne Cory

Last updated: 15 August 2026