HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test) Preparation for Australian Selective and Independent Schools

Quick answer: what is the HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test)?

The HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test) is a paper-only cognitive ability assessment developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and used by 78 selective and independent schools across Australia, plus one school in Singapore, for entry into selective, scholarship and accelerated programs. HAST Primary is designed for entry into Years 5 and 6; HAST Secondary is designed for entry into Years 7 to 11. The test has four components: Reading Comprehension, Mathematical Reasoning (Mathematical & Scientific Reasoning at Secondary level), Abstract Reasoning and Written Expression. ACER names those components but does not publish their timings, question counts or cut-offs, so the school running your child's sitting is the source for the day itself.

For the 2027 entry cycle, start with our HAST schools complete list by state, what is HAST parent guide, and HAST practice tests and resources. Queensland families weighing HAST against EduTest should read HAST vs EduTest; for timed HAST mocks see HAST online mocks.

2027 HAST entry — what families should confirm now

Each school chooses its own HAST sitting date and registration window. ACER states this plainly, and publishes no national timetable. Use this checklist before you buy practice materials:

Step	What to confirm	Where to verify
1	Target schools and entry year (Years 5–6 Primary, Years 7–11 Secondary)	HAST schools directory and HAST schools list by state, then each school's admissions page
2	Which HAST level and package the school has chosen	School admissions office; HAST format guide
3	Registration window and test date for 2027 entry	School website or enrolment office — no national window is published, so the school's own date is the only reliable one
4	Whether the school uses HAST or EduTest (QLD Academies use EduTest)	HAST vs EduTest reference
5	Test fee and what it covers	Each school's admissions page — fees are set per school, not by ACER
6	Baseline practice material	Free HAST sample questions and HAST online mocks

What is HAST and which schools use it?

HAST is the standardised cognitive ability test ACER builds for selective entry, scholarship and accelerated programs. It is paper-only, administered by individual schools rather than by a central authority, and used across five Australian states: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. ACER's participating-schools list names 78 schools — NSW 28, Victoria 24, Queensland 11, South Australia 8 and Western Australia 6 — plus one international school in Singapore. Braintree Coaching Australia checks that list each cycle, because schools join and leave it between years.

Schools on ACER's list include:

• NSW (selective and independent): Fort Street High School, Chatswood High School, Penrith Selective High School, Hornsby Girls' High School, Sydney Technical High School, Epping Boys High School, Hurlstone Agricultural High School, St George Girls High School, Sydney Catholic Schools' Newman Selective Gifted Education Program and Sydney Grammar School Edgecliff Preparatory.
• Victoria (selective and independent): Balwyn High School, Box Hill High School, Dandenong High School, Brentwood Secondary College, Mill Park Secondary School, Cheltenham Secondary College, St Helena Secondary College and Aquinas College.
• Queensland: Brisbane State High School, Indooroopilly State High School, Benowa State High School, Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, Robina State High School and The Southport School.
• South Australia: Glenunga International High School, Adelaide Botanic High School, The Heights School, Aberfoyle Park High School, Norwood International High School, Unley High School and Woodville High School. Several of these schools also run South Australia's own IGNITE accelerated pathway, which has a separate selection process — see IGNITE program preparation if that is the pathway you are actually applying for.
• Western Australia: Churchlands Senior High School, Mount Lawley Senior High School, Carey Baptist College and Harrisdale Senior High School.

That is a sample, not the full list. For the state-by-state view see our HAST schools directory, and confirm any individual school against ACER's participating-schools page before you plan a year around it.

Each school publishes its own entry year levels, test fee and registration window. There is no single national HAST sitting; families targeting multiple schools must register at each independently.

What does the HAST test measure?

HAST is an ability test in the ACER tradition: it measures reasoning capacity across four domains rather than year-level curriculum recall. The four components are administered in a single sitting. ACER publishes the component names and how they are scored, but not their timings or question counts, so the table below states what each one asks of a child rather than numbers ACER has not confirmed.

Component	Format	Scored by	What it measures
Reading Comprehension	Multiple choice	Machine	Inference, vocabulary in context, main idea, author purpose; fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, diagrams, tables, charts and maps
Mathematical Reasoning	Multiple choice	Machine	Problem-solving across number, pattern, ratio, geometry and measurement; at Secondary level the component is Mathematical & Scientific Reasoning
Abstract Reasoning	Multiple choice	Machine	Visual pattern recognition, sequences, matrices and logical relationships — language-independent
Written Expression	Extended response	Qualified human markers	One creative or discursive written response

Ask the school for the running order and the length of each component when you confirm the test date. That timetable is set locally, and it is the one your child will sit. In our teaching, Abstract Reasoning is the component most commonly under-practised by students new to ability testing, because it looks least like schoolwork. For question-type drills (matrices, series, analogies, spatial tasks), see our abstract and non-verbal reasoning skills guide.

HAST Primary versus HAST Secondary

ACER offers HAST at two levels. HAST Primary is designed for entry into Years 5 and 6. HAST Secondary is designed for entry into Years 7 to 11, and is offered in Junior, Middle and Senior levels; at Secondary the mathematics component is Mathematical & Scientific Reasoning, which folds scientific data interpretation into the same paper. Year 7 entry therefore sits at Secondary level, not Primary — a distinction worth getting right before you buy practice material. ACER also states that schools choose from a range of test packages to suit their own needs, but does not publish what each package contains, so confirm with the school which components its sitting includes.

How is HAST scored — what is a good score?

ACER machine-scores the three multiple-choice components and has qualified human markers assess Written Expression. It then sends the administering school two things: an individual student report for each candidate, and a school report that ranks the cohort who sat there. ACER states a 10-working-day turnaround between receiving the completed tests and providing those results; when and how the school passes them to families is the school's own decision.

Beyond that, ACER publishes very little about HAST scoring, and the gaps matter more than the guesses that fill them online:

• The score scales are not published. You will see "raw, standardised, percentile and stanine" quoted on coaching sites, including in older versions of this page. ACER does not state that on its HAST pages, so we no longer state it either. Ask the school what its report actually shows.
• The comparison group is not published. The common claim that HAST percentiles are referenced to a high-ability cohort rather than the general population is plausible for a selective-entry test, but it is not something ACER publishes — treat it as unconfirmed.
• There is no published cut-off. ACER sets none, and schools rarely release theirs. Any specific "you need the 85th percentile" figure you find, on our site or anyone else's, is someone's estimate rather than a sourced number.

What this means practically: a HAST result is only interpretable next to the school's own ranking and its offer history, so make that a question you ask the admissions office rather than a number you try to hit blind.

Marking rules for unanswered or incorrect items are also unpublished. If your child's strategy depends on whether a wrong answer costs a mark, ask the supervising school before the day rather than assuming either way.

When and where is HAST held, and how do families register?

HAST is administered directly by each school. ACER states that schools choose the test date and that registration runs through each school's own online registration portal — parents are directed to their school, not to ACER. ACER publishes no national sitting period and no national registration window, so the only dates worth planning around are the ones your target school has published.

Practical implications:

• Test fees are set by each school, not by ACER. The school's admissions page is the only source for its fee and for whether the fee is bundled into a broader application charge.
• Multiple schools may be applied to in the same year. Where the dates differ, ACER states that each school uses a different test and the child sits at each on its nominated date; where two schools have chosen the same date, the child sits at one only. Ask each school for its date early enough to find that clash.
• Missed sittings are handled school by school. Ask what happens if your child is ill on the day before you rely on a make-up option existing.
• Test-day materials are listed in the school's own confirmation letter. Pencils, pens and permitted equipment are set locally, and ACER publishes no national materials list. Read that letter with your child the week before rather than the night before.

What does a strong HAST preparation look like?

HAST rewards a long, structured preparation rather than a short sprint. A 12-month plan typically runs in three phases.

1. Foundations (12 months out). Wide reading across fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual texts to build vocabulary and inference. Daily mental math (~10 problems) to build calculator-free fluency. Introductory exposure to abstract-reasoning patterns and matrices. One short creative or discursive writing task per week.
2. Component practice (6–3 months out). Weekly timed sets in each of the four components. Worked solutions reviewed the same week — the goal is to understand why an incorrect answer was incorrect, not just to learn the right one. Writing tasks marked against a written rubric, focusing on a plan-write-edit rhythm under a fixed time limit.
3. Full mocks (final 8 weeks). Monthly full-length, ACER-format mock tests under a consistent time limit — ACER's own HAST sample question booklets and Student Information Bulletins are the closest available content benchmark. Written Expression is marked each time. Use mocks to track improvement against your child's own earlier attempts, not against a percentile ACER does not publish.

Three patterns consistently move HAST scores most:

• Abstract Reasoning daily drills — students new to ability testing tend to lose marks in the opening items of a timed set while they work out what the question type is asking. Familiarity with the question types removes most of that early-set drop.
• Written Expression with human feedback — the one component ACER has assessed by human markers is also the one that benefits most from a person marking it, because the qualities a marker responds to are hard for an automated tool to score reliably.
• Error analysis, not score-chasing — a log of misread instructions, pacing errors and content gaps gives a child something to change next week. A running tally of correct answers does not.

A workable weekly rhythm is to rotate across the four components rather than repeat the comfortable one: multiple-choice practice on several weekdays, one writing task, and a shorter mixed mock late in the week. Reading widely across the year does more for Reading Comprehension than any drill.

What are the most common HAST mistakes to avoid?

• Misreading the instructions at the top of each component. HAST instructions vary by year and by school package; reading them carefully takes 30 seconds and prevents whole-section format errors.
• Practising strengths instead of weaknesses. A child's weakest component has the most room in it. Lifting the section they avoid moves a whole-test result further than polishing the one they already enjoy.
• Guessing without checking the rule. ACER does not publish whether unanswered or incorrect items are penalised, so decide this with the supervising school rather than acting on a rule of thumb from a forum.
• Under-preparing Written Expression. Many families assume creative writing cannot be drilled. Structure, idea quality, language control and mechanics all respond directly to weekly practice with feedback, whatever the marking sheet on the day looks like.
• Last-minute cramming. HAST measures reasoning capacity built over months. The last 48 hours should prioritise sleep, balanced food and one or two short orientation drills, not new content.

How HAST compares to other Australian selective tests

Families across multiple states often weigh HAST against neighbouring tests their child might also sit. The headline differences:

• EduTest — used by independent and Catholic schools nationally and by the Queensland Academies for Year 7 entry. Five components rather than HAST's four, and a different timing structure.
• NSW Selective High Schools Test — Year 6 entry for NSW fully selective schools. Computer-based, separate writing component, different reporting framework.
• Opportunity Class (OC) test — NSW Year 4 entry for Year 5 OC placements. Computer-based, shorter test, narrower content range.
• ASET (Academic Selective Entrance Test) — Western Australia Year 6 entry for Perth Modern School and GATE programs. ACER-built but WA-specific, with a single Total Scaled Score (TSS) used for ranking.
• BSHS HAST round — Brisbane State High School uses HAST itself for Year 7 entry, so families targeting BSHS are already preparing in the HAST framework.

Families applying across states must prepare for each format separately. The most common avoidable error is treating HAST practice as interchangeable with NSW Selective or OC practice — the formats, timing and reporting all differ. WA families weighing GATE should read ASET results interpretation alongside HAST prep.

What support do HAST families typically use?

Effective HAST preparation usually combines four elements:

1. The student's own reading and practice habits — built over 12 months, not the last term.
2. ACER's own sample materials — the sample question booklets sold as PDFs through the ACER shop, plus the free HAST Student Information Bulletins — as the closest official content benchmark.
3. Targeted coaching that is diagnostic — identifying the student's weakest of the four components and giving regular timed practice with substantive feedback.
4. Rubric-based marking on Written Expression so the child gets a specific, repeatable read on their writing rather than a mark out of ten.

The common thread is feedback a child can act on. Written Expression is the component ACER has assessed by human markers, and it is the hardest one to improve from a worked-answer sheet alone — a piece of writing needs someone to say which paragraph lost the reader and why. Whatever support you choose, ask what the student receives back after each task.

Related HAST resources

• HAST vs EduTest — who sits which paper
• Australian scholarship exams compared — ACER vs EduTest vs HAST
• HAST test format and four components guide
• HAST preparation strategies and study planning
• HAST practice tests and resources
• HAST online mocks — free samples and paid course options
• HAST results and percentile interpretation
• HAST test-day guidelines
• Full HAST exam FAQ
• HAST schools directory — which schools use HAST, by state
• HAST schools complete list by state (2027)
• What is HAST? parent guide
• WA gifted and talented program — complete parent guide
• Historical 2026 Australian exam dates and registration deadlines

Last updated: 2026-08-15. Reviewed by the Braintree Coaching Academic Team. School counts and the Primary/Secondary entry years were verified against acer.org/au/hast and acer.org/au/hast/participating-schools; the sample materials and the multiple-school sitting rule against acer.org/au/hast/student-support (all checked 15 August 2026). Component timings, question counts, fees, sitting windows and cut-offs are not published by ACER and are Unconfirmed until your school publishes its own.