Queensland Academies campus selection: QASMT vs QACI vs QAHS

The three Queensland Academies are separate campuses with separate specialisations and separate entry points, sitting one shared Entrance Test.

Campus	Specialisation	Location	Entry points
QASMT — Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology	Science, mathematics and technology	Toowong, Brisbane	Year 7 (applied for in Year 5) and Year 10
QACI — Queensland Academies Creative Industries Campus	Creative industries: Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts and Film	Kelvin Grove, Brisbane	Year 10
QAHS — Queensland Academies Health Sciences Campus	Health and the life sciences	Gold Coast	Year 10

All three deliver the Years 10 to 12 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in the senior years. QASMT also runs the Middle Years Programme across Years 7 to 9 for students who enter at Year 7.

QASMT is the science, mathematics and technology campus, in Toowong, and it is the only Queensland Academy with a Year 7 entry point. That entry point is the practical difference for most families, because the application is made while a child is in Year 5, well before the Year 10 cycle opens. Students who enter at Year 7 complete the Middle Years Programme in Years 7 to 9 and then the IB Diploma. QASMT also takes Year 10 entrants, but each campus publishes its own Year 10 calendar — do not assume QASMT, QACI and QAHS share one close or testing date. Consider QASMT when your child's sustained interest is in the sciences, mathematics or technology, or when you want the option of an earlier start. Our QASMT Toowong entry guide covers both entry points in detail.

QACI is the creative industries campus, in Kelvin Grove, and it describes itself as a selective entry senior state high school for Years 10 to 12. The arts subjects it publishes are Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts and Film. Entry is at Year 10, applied for from Term 3 of Year 8, through the same application and the same Entrance Test as the other two campuses. QACI suits a child who is already making creative work and wants a senior pathway built around it. Confirm any campus-specific requirement with QACI directly before you apply rather than assuming the process differs. Our QACI Kelvin Grove entry guide covers the campus in more detail.

QAHS is the health sciences campus, on the Gold Coast, focused on health, medicine and the life sciences that underpin them. Entry is at Year 10, applied for from Term 3 of Year 8, on the same terms as QACI. It suits a child oriented toward health and the sciences, and it is the campus where travel matters most: the two Brisbane campuses are in Toowong and Kelvin Grove, so a Gold Coast placement is a daily commitment for a Brisbane family. Our QAHS Gold Coast entry guide covers the campus in more detail.

Selection assesses four elements: the Entrance Test, academic records (school reports and NAPLAN results), an engagement activity, and additional relevant information. Only shortlisted candidates are invited to the engagement activity. That process is the same whichever campus you name.

Two things families expect to find are not published. Queensland Academies publishes no percentage weighting for any component of the selection process, so nobody outside the school can say how the Entrance Test is weighed against reports, NAPLAN or the engagement activity. It also publishes no percentile band, rank or cut-off for successful applicants, and no acceptance rate or applicant count. Treat any figure of that kind you find elsewhere as unsourced.

The practical consequence is useful rather than discouraging: because no component is published as decisive, there is no campus-specific practice strategy to optimise against. Year 7 and Year 10 candidates sit the same five components. The published section timings add up to 165 minutes of timed testing — that total is our sum, not a figure Queensland Academies publishes — within a sitting described as approximately three hours.

Start with the child, not the campus.

1. Identify their strongest sustained interest — sciences and mathematics, creative practice, or health and life sciences. Each academy is built around one field, and a child spends Years 10 to 12 inside it.
2. Check the entry level against your child's year. Only QASMT offers Year 7 entry, applied for in Year 5. For Year 10 entry at any of the three, on-time applications open from Term 3 of Year 8, for entry two years later — but each campus publishes its own close and testing cells. For Year 10 entry in 2028 (checked 9 September 2026 against the Year 10 enrolments page): QASMT closes 4pm Friday 21 August 2026 with testing Sunday 6 September 2026; QACI closes 4pm Friday 4 June 2027 with testing TBC in Term 2 2027; QAHS close and testing remain TBC in Term 1 2027, with a published interview date of Saturday 17 April 2027.
3. Weigh the practical constraints, especially travel. QAHS is on the Gold Coast; QASMT and QACI are in Toowong and Kelvin Grove.
4. Commit to one campus for the year. A student may submit only one application to Queensland Academies in a given year, across QASMT, QACI and QAHS combined, so name the campus that matches your child's clearest direction rather than hedging.

From our tutor intake notes, families who also target Brisbane State High School through HAST often underestimate that the Academies pathway uses a different test, fee schedule and calendar — so once you name a campus, keep Academies practice on the EduTest-style track rather than blending HAST packs into the same week.