EduTest results: scaled scores, percentiles and school cut-offs

EduTest results carry weight only once you can read them — the scaled scores, the percentile bands and the school-specific cut-offs all sit behind the headline number a family receives by email. This page sets out how the test is scored, what each band of scaled scores typically signals, how independent Australian schools set their scholarship cut-offs from year to year, and the steps to take in the weeks after a result arrives. It pairs with our EduTest selective and scholarship exam hub and our EduTest exam format overview for the section-by-section detail.

How are EduTest results scored?

EduTest results move through raw marking, standardisation into scaled section scores, and whatever overall figure the receiving school uses from those scores. Edutest Australia describes scoring as a comparison with other same-year-level students nationally; it does not publish the exact mean, standard deviation, overall scale, section weightings or written-expression rubric on its parents page or FAQ (checked against the shared EduTest fact cache, 2026-08-15).

1. Raw marking. Each multiple-choice section is marked on correct answers. Edutest Australia does not publish a guessing-penalty rule either way — a blank answer cannot earn a mark. Written expression is marked by trained markers; Edutest does not publish criterion weightings, so treat marker feedback from the school as the authority for that sitting.
2. Standardisation. Raw scores are converted to standardised scaled scores per section so schools can compare candidates within the sitting cohort even when papers vary slightly year to year. Exact published parameters (mean, SD, overall numeric scale) are not on the Edutest parents or FAQ pages.
3. Section scores. Families and schools receive scores across the five sections — verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, reading comprehension, mathematics and written expression. Edutest does not publish that the sections are equally weighted; each school decides how it combines or prioritises them.
4. School-side overall. Many schools derive a single overall figure from the section scores for ranking scholarship candidates. That overall, and any cut-off attached to it, is set by the school — not by a national EduTest pass mark.

What does each band of scaled scores mean?

The table below is a working guide we use when reading a result with families. It is not a Tier-1 Edutest cut-off table — Edutest does not publish percentile bands or scholarship thresholds — and the "scholarship outcome" column describes typical competitiveness at academic-scholarship rounds run by independent Australian schools, not a guarantee for any named campus.

Overall scaled score	Percentile band	What the result signals	Typical scholarship outcome
135–140	Top 1–2%	Exceptional, consistent across all five sections.	Highly competitive for full academic scholarships at the most over-subscribed independent schools.
128–134	Top 5–10%	Very strong, with no weak section.	Competitive for partial scholarships at tier-1 independent schools and full offers at strong second-tier schools.
120–127	Top 10–20%	Strong, typically with one or two stronger sections.	Competitive for partial scholarships at strong independent schools and competitive for selective entry at state schools that publish lower cut-offs.
110–119	Top 20–35%	Above the cohort average; pacing or one section often limits the score.	May meet cut-offs at schools with smaller scholarship rounds; usually below the threshold at oversubscribed schools.
Below 110	Below top 35%	Around or below the cohort average.	Unlikely to meet scholarship cut-offs in the current sitting; consider general entry, reapplying for a later year level, or alternative pathways.

These bands are a programme working guide, not a guarantee and not an Edutest-published table. A child who scores strongly overall but with a weak written-expression section may not meet the scholarship cut-off at a school that publishes a per-section minimum on writing — and a balanced profile with no weak section may be more competitive than a higher overall driven by two sections alone. Always read the per-section scores alongside any overall figure the school uses.

How do independent schools set their cut-offs?

Each independent school sets its own EduTest cut-off, and the published threshold can shift year on year with the size and strength of the applicant pool. Three patterns are visible across the schools we work with:

• Overall-score cut-offs. Most schools publish (or quietly hold) an overall scaled-score minimum — for example, 128 for the first round of scholarship offers. The minimum can move two to four points either way depending on cohort strength.
• Per-section minima. A subset of schools require a minimum scaled score in two or three named sections (often verbal reasoning, mathematics and written expression) regardless of the overall result. These minima catch candidates who scored well on speed-rewarding sections but did not demonstrate writing or mathematics depth.
• Combined-result weightings. A growing number of schools weight the EduTest result alongside an interview, a school report and a primary-school reference. Where this is the case, the EduTest score is necessary but not sufficient — and the documented school report can lift a borderline EduTest result over the line.

Comparable scholarship and selective-entry sittings are also run by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and the NSW Department of Education publishes the placement-test scoring methodology used by NSW state selective schools. Both are useful reference points when comparing scholarship-pathway results across providers — the score scales are not interchangeable, but the standardisation principles are similar.

What does each per-section score tell us?

Per-section scores matter because they shape both scholarship outcomes and the next round of preparation. Look across all five sections, not only at the overall:

• Verbal reasoning measures vocabulary depth, analogy and classification reasoning. A scaled score below 110 is usually a vocabulary gap, addressable in three to six months of consistent reading and word work.
• Numerical reasoning measures pattern recognition, sequences and logical handling of numbers beyond curriculum arithmetic. A weak result here is most often a pacing issue rather than a curriculum gap.
• Reading comprehension measures literal, inferential and critical reading across three to four passages. The most common loss is on inference questions where the student answered from memory rather than from the text.
• Mathematics measures problem-solving across number, measurement and geometry, and statistics — without a calculator. A child consistently above 125 here typically has confidence with multi-step word problems, not only with computation.
• Written expression is the most variable section across cohorts. A 120+ in writing nearly always reflects deliberate structure (introduction, body, conclusion) under timed conditions rather than vocabulary alone.

A balanced 125–130 across all five sections is usually a stronger scholarship application than a 135 overall driven by two strong sections and a weak third.

When are EduTest results released?

Edutest Australia does not publish a results release window and does not provide parents with results directly. The receiving school decides if and when a parent report is shared — take the timeline from that school's application pack or notification email rather than from a general figure. Schools notify families directly; there is no centralised Edutest results portal for scholarship sittings.

What usually happens after a sitting, without inventing an unpublished interval:

Stage	What to confirm with the school
Test sitting	Date, venue and format in the application pack or week-of email.
Marking and reporting to the school	Edutest marks and returns scores to the school; parents are not on that channel.
School notification	Whether a parent report is issued, and on what date, is the school's decision.
Scholarship decision and acceptance	Offer letter deadlines — Edutest is not a party to the offer.
Enrolment	Paperwork, fees and orientation dates from the school that made the offer.

Confirm every date in the pack for the sitting your child is entered for. A calendar from another school or another year is not authoritative.

What should we do after results arrive?

The right next step depends on whether a scholarship offer is in hand, but two principles apply either way: read the full results report (not only the overall), and act inside the school's published deadlines.

If a scholarship offer is received. Accept inside the deadline — most schools give one to two weeks, and a missed deadline is treated as a decline. Only one offer can be held; declining the others early is courteous and frees a place for a wait-listed family. Complete the enrolment forms, request the orientation pack, and ask the school for the section-by-section feedback Edutest provides — a strong scholarship is also useful diagnostic information for the next school year.

If no offer is received. Read the per-section scores carefully. A close overall result (within five points of the published cut-off) often reflects one weak section that is addressable in six months. Consider reapplying for a later year level — many schools rerun scholarship sittings for Year 8 and Year 9 entry. Consider general entry alongside the scholarship pathway: most of the schools we work with run a general-entry round that does not require EduTest. Above all, do not draw a single judgement from a single sitting; the test measures performance under time pressure on a particular day.

Can we appeal or request a re-mark?

Appeals and re-marks are uncommon and rarely change the outcome, but two pathways are typically available. Each school publishes its own appeal policy in the scholarship pack — confirm the deadline, which is usually one to two weeks after the result is released.

• Clerical check. A clerical check verifies that the raw answers were transcribed and totalled correctly. This is usually free of charge and rarely identifies errors, but it is worth requesting if the per-section pattern is inconsistent with practice results.
• Special consideration. Where a documented circumstance affected performance on the day — a sudden illness, a family emergency, a technical issue at the test centre — the school may consider an alternate sitting or a weighted result. A medical certificate or other documentation is required, and the application must usually be lodged within seven days of the test.
• Re-marking of the writing task. Re-marks are very rarely granted on multiple-choice sections; some schools will re-mark the written-expression task for a small administration fee. Re-marks change the headline result in only a small fraction of cases.

A successful appeal almost always rests on documented evidence rather than on disagreement with the result. Frame any appeal around what the school can verify, not around the family's expectation of the score.

What does this mean for preparation?

Read EduTest results across all five sections, hold the scholarship decision against the school's published cut-off and the cohort context, and act inside the published deadlines. If a child sat the 2025 test and is now planning a 2026 retake or a later year-level scholarship round, our EduTest preparation strategies plan sets out the four-phase build-up, and our EduTest practice resources page lists the free official samples and structured materials to use. For section-by-section detail on what each component of the result measures, see the EduTest exam format overview.