Queensland Academies test format: components, timing and entry levels

Entry to a Queensland Academy is decided largely by a single ability-style entrance assessment rather than a school-report ranking, so understanding the paper your child will actually sit is the first step before any practice begins.

Braintree Coaching Australia prepares students for the Entrance Test used across the three Queensland Academies, and this page sets out the format at the centre of our Queensland Academies preparation programme for entry into QASMT (Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology) in Toowong, QACI (Queensland Academy for Creative Industries) in Kelvin Grove, and QAHS (Queensland Academy for Health Sciences) on the Gold Coast. The Academies describe the assessment plainly: "The Entrance test is a series of tests that will be facilitated by Edutest" (Queensland Academies Year 10 enrolments).

It is not a test that merely resembles EduTest, which matters, because EduTest's own published rules about the test room apply directly.

Which components does the Queensland Academies test include?

The Queensland Academies Entrance Test includes five timed components: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Written Expression. Both Year 7 and Year 10 entry sit all five. The Academies group them into two kinds — the tests "cover both ability and achievement", where ability tests "measure a child's ability to think, reason and solve problems, without necessarily relying on prior knowledge" and achievement tests "measure actual achievement or performance in some key academic areas".

Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Reasoning are the ability tests; Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Written Expression are the achievement tests. The Academies publish a one-line description of what each component measures on the Year 10 enrolments page:

• Verbal Reasoning (30 minutes) "measures the ability to think and reason using words and language". In practice that means vocabulary, word relationships, analogies, verbal classification and sentence completion from context.
• Numerical Reasoning (30 minutes) "measures the ability to think and reason using numbers". This is pattern work rather than taught arithmetic: number sequences, shape and symbol patterns, matrix reasoning and logical deduction. It is the component most often new to a child, because it draws on reasoning that is rarely taught explicitly in class.
• Reading Comprehension (30 minutes) "measures the capacity to read and interpret meaning from written passages", with both literal recall and inferential questions on main idea, detail, author purpose and vocabulary in context.
• Mathematics (30 minutes) tests "year-level appropriate mathematical knowledge". Note the wording: the Academies describe this section as pitched at year level, not above it. Expect multi-step word problems, fractions, decimals and percentages, ratios, early algebra, geometry and data interpretation, all worked without a calculator.
• Written Expression (15 minutes) "assesses the ability to convey ideas clearly in written form".

How does each component fit together?

Each component is timed separately. The five published timings sum to 165 minutes, or 2 hours 45 minutes. That total is our arithmetic on the Academies' own component figures, not a number they publish. What they do publish is an Entrance Test of approximately 3 hours in duration, which leaves roughly a quarter of an hour above the timed components for check-in and settling between sections. They do not itemise that difference, so plan your child's morning around three hours rather than two.

Component	Timing	What it measures
Verbal Reasoning	30 min	Thinking and reasoning using words and language.
Numerical Reasoning	30 min	Thinking and reasoning using numbers.
Reading Comprehension	30 min	Reading and interpreting meaning from written passages.
Mathematics	30 min	Year-level appropriate mathematical knowledge, worked without a calculator.
Written Expression	15 min	Conveying ideas clearly in written form.
Total timed testing	165 min	Sum of the five published component timings; the Academies publish the Entrance Test itself as approximately 3 hours.

Tests are sat at a designated Queensland Academies venue. Remote testing can be arranged through EduTest for applicants "living and studying a significant distance from a Queensland Academy, interstate or overseas", but the Academies state plainly that remote tests "are not available to applicants who cannot attend a test due to travel". Being away travelling is not a ground for one. The Academies do not publish whether the Entrance Test is answered on screen or on paper.

EduTest's own guidance for parents describes candidates shading bubbles on multiple-choice answer sheets rather than circling answers in question booklets, so we would not assume an on-screen sitting: practise on paper, and ask the Academies to confirm the format when your child's sitting is confirmed. For a chronological walk-through of the day itself, see our Queensland Academies test-day guide.

How does Year 7 entry differ from Year 10 entry?

Year 7 and Year 10 entry sit the same five components with the same published timings, Written Expression included. The differences are in who can apply, where, and when. Year 7 entry is offered at QASMT only, and the Academies state the application process "is designed to be undertaken when students are in Year 5" (Queensland Academies Year 7 enrolments). Year 10 entry is available at all three campuses, and on-time applications open to students "from Term 3 of Year 8", roughly two years before entry.

The two entry points also run separate date cycles, so check the official dates for the entry year your child is applying for rather than reading one cycle's dates across to the other.

The Academies do not publish the year level the test material is pitched at, so we will not put a number on it. What is safe to say is that a Year 10 candidate is two to three years further through school than a Year 7 candidate and meets the same five components accordingly. Prepare for the structure, at your child's own year level.

What can your child take into the test room?

Calculators may not be brought to any EduTest test, and the restriction is not limited to the Mathematics component. EduTest's information for parents also prohibits rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, mobile phones, digital watches, watches capable of storing or transmitting information such as smart watches and fitness trackers, and erasable pens.

Two practical consequences follow. Every multi-step calculation has to be worked by hand, so calculator-free mental-maths fluency is part of preparation rather than an optional extra. And because a child cannot bring working-out paper, they need to be comfortable setting out their working in whatever space the paper provides. It is worth checking your child's pencil case the night before against that list, including the watch on their wrist.

How many questions does each section contain?

EduTest does not publish how many questions each section contains, and neither do the Queensland Academies. That absence matters, because it means no completion rate can be quoted for the Entrance Test. If you see a figure claiming most candidates finish only a set percentage of questions, treat it as unsourced. EduTest's frequently asked questions publish no per-section counts either.

Nor does either publish how questions are ordered within a component, so we would not plan around an assumed difficulty ramp. An easy-to-hard order is a common coaching assumption, not a published fact. What the timings do make clear is that pace matters, and that knowing when to leave a question and come back to it is worth practising. Timed practice is how a child builds that judgement, and it works better than untimed practice on the same material.

How do the three campuses vary?

All three Queensland Academies use the same Entrance Test, with the same five components and the same timings. What differs is the specialisation each campus teaches into and the additional evidence a campus may seek.

• QASMT (Science, Mathematics and Technology), Toowong is the only Year 7 entry point, and also takes Year 10 entrants.
• QACI (Creative Industries), Kelvin Grove takes Year 10 entrants into its creative-industries specialisation.
• QAHS (Health Sciences), Gold Coast takes Year 10 entrants into its health-sciences specialisation.

Beyond the campus names themselves, the Academies' enrolment pages do not publish a subject-level description of what each campus teaches into, so check the individual campus site rather than a summary like this one before you choose.

The Academies publish no weighting for any part of the selection process, and none per campus either. We have seen families redirect a child's limited preparation time on the assumption that a science academy must weight Mathematics more heavily. Nothing published supports that, so the sensible plan is a balanced result across all five components rather than a bet on one. Shortlisted candidates are invited to what the Academies call an engagement activity; the term "interview" is ours and theirs interchangeably in conversation, but the published word is engagement activity.

Confirm what your chosen campus asks for, including any portfolio evidence, directly with that campus.

What do we see Queensland families get wrong about the format?

The mistake we see most often in tutor intake is blending two pathways into one preparation programme. Families targeting both Brisbane State High School and the Queensland Academies underestimate that the tests, the fees and the timelines differ: Brisbane State High uses the ACER HAST, while the Queensland Academies Entrance Test is facilitated by EduTest, and the two have different section structures and timings. Preparation has to be split by pathway rather than blended. Our Brisbane State High School selective entry preparation hub covers the HAST separately.

On weekly load, our academic panel's recommended maximum for scholarship and EduTest-focused preparation is six to seven hours a week including class time, with the largest share going to the weakest component and the whole plan adjusted down if sleep, mood or family time suffer. That is coaching guidance from our own programme observation, not a rule and not an outcome guarantee.

How is the Queensland Academies test scored?

The Queensland Academies publish no cutoff score, no percentile band and no rank for successful applicants at any campus or entry point. What is published sits one step back, with EduTest: its result categories are set by "a comparison to results returned by thousands of other students in the same year level across Australia", and it expects "more than half of the students who take these tests will score on any one test in the 'average' or 'normal' range" (Edutest information for parents).

So a child's result is positioned against a wider cohort rather than against a fixed pass mark — but how the Academies then weigh that result is not published. Selection assesses four elements: the Entrance Test, academic records (school reports and NAPLAN results), an engagement activity or interview, and any additional relevant information supplied with the application. No percentage weighting is published for any of them.

The practical consequence for a parent is that there is no number to aim at, so a consistent profile across every component is what the process is built to reward. For how outcomes are communicated and what families can read from them, see our Queensland Academies results guide.

What does the format mean for preparation?

The Entrance Test rewards reasoning that most classrooms do not teach explicitly, so a child performing well at school still benefits from targeted, format-specific work. The two areas families most often underestimate are Numerical Reasoning, which depends on pattern, sequence and matrix practice rather than curriculum knowledge, and the calculator-free Mathematics section, where multi-step problems have to be worked by hand under time pressure. Written Expression deserves a place in the plan for both entry points, not just Year 7, because both sit it.

To turn the format into a study plan, read our Queensland Academies preparation strategies and work through our Queensland Academies practice resources. If questions about eligibility, applications or campus choice remain, our Queensland Academies FAQ answers what parents ask most often.