Queensland Academies practice resources: tests and study materials

The Queensland Academies Entrance Test is an EduTest-facilitated sitting of five separately timed components — a mix of ability papers and year-level Mathematics — in one sitting. Braintree Coaching Australia draws its practice on that assessment, and this page sets out which resources to trust and how to use them within our Queensland Academies preparation programme for entry into QASMT (Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology), QACI (Queensland Academy for Creative Industries) and QAHS (Queensland Academy for Health Sciences). If you have not yet chosen a campus, start with our Queensland Academies campus selection guide. If you have not yet confirmed what your child will sit, start with our Queensland Academies test format guide.

Where do the authoritative resources come from?

The single authoritative source is the Queensland Government, which publishes the Queensland Academies entry process and the assessment used for each intake on its Queensland Academies enrolments pages. Anything else — coaching workbooks, sample packs, third-party question banks — should be checked against that official information rather than treated as definitive.

Two details from the official source change what you should buy. The first is that the Entrance Test has five timed components, not four. Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension and Mathematics each run 30 minutes, and Written Expression runs 15 minutes. Those published section timings add up to 165 minutes of timed testing — that total is our sum, not a figure Queensland Academies publishes — inside a sitting the academies describe as approximately three hours. Year 10 entry sits the same five components. A plan built around four sections leaves the graded writing task unrehearsed.

Component	Published time	What to buy practice for
Verbal Reasoning	30 minutes	Word relationships, analogies, letter and code patterns
Numerical Reasoning	30 minutes	Number sequences, matrix patterns, ratio and proportion
Reading Comprehension	30 minutes	Timed unseen passages with inferential questions
Mathematics	30 minutes	Multi-step problems worked by hand, no calculator
Written Expression	15 minutes	Unseen prompts written to a strict 15-minute limit

Per-section question counts are not published for any of the five, so treat the timings as the fixed constraint and the question count as unknown.

The second is the delivery format. Neither the Queensland Government nor Edutest Australia, the test provider, publishes whether a sitting is on paper or on a computer; the receiving campus sets the format and confirms it in the application pack. Ask the campus before you spend money on material that only works in one medium.

Because the academies use an EduTest-style assessment, EduTest's own published sample material is the closest format match for all five components. The table of resources below lists the primary sources to work from.

How should we use section drills?

Use short, daily section drills to build the underlying skills before layering on full-length papers. Braintree Coaching Australia's teaching practice is twenty to thirty minutes a day, focused on one component at a time — in our experience that builds fluency more reliably than occasional long sessions. That length is our recommendation, not a published expectation of the academies, and it is worth adjusting down if your child's sleep or mood suffers.

Numerical Reasoning usually needs the most of that time, because the pattern and matrix items are not taught the way the test asks for them. For Numerical Reasoning, work in short sets of number sequences, matrix patterns and ratio problems, and time every set from the first week so speed is built in rather than bolted on later. For Mathematics, work multi-step year-level problems by hand and insist on the working being written in the margin of the question sheet, because the prohibited-items list for an EduTest sitting covers working-out paper as well as calculators, rulers, dictionaries, mobile phones and smart watches. Nothing goes on the desk, so the habit has to be trained early.

Reading Comprehension and Verbal Reasoning need less drilling but should not be dropped from the weekly rotation. Twenty minutes of timed reading with the questions covered until the passage is finished is usually enough to keep pace steady.

What does practising Written Expression look like?

Written Expression is fifteen minutes, and that constraint is what your child is really practising. It is the shortest component, the one most often left out of a home practice plan, and the one where a first attempt under time is usually a shock. The Queensland Government names what the task assesses — punctuation, creativity, construction, grammar, spelling and relevance to the task — but publishes no marking rubric, no band descriptors and no percentage weighting for any component of the selection process, so practise those qualities under the clock rather than chasing marks that have not been released.

A workable drill takes fifteen minutes and needs no pack: give your child an unseen prompt, and have them plan for two minutes, write for eleven, and read back for two. Twice a week is enough. The point is not to produce a polished piece — it is for fifteen minutes to stop feeling like an emergency. Keep the prompts fresh rather than re-running one already attempted, and resist the urge to invent a mark out of ten; ask instead whether the piece is relevant to the prompt, holds a clear line of thought, is punctuated cleanly, and reaches an ending rather than stopping mid-sentence.

How many full-length mock papers should my child sit?

Across a twelve- to eighteen-month plan, Braintree Coaching Australia's recommendation is roughly eight to twelve full-length mock papers, with the number rising in the final months as preparation shifts from skill building to exam simulation. That range is our teaching practice, not a rule set by the academies, and the count matters far less than what happens afterwards.

The papers themselves are less important than the review: we plan one to two hours after each mock to work through why each mistake happened, not simply which answers were wrong. A child who sits six papers and reviews all six carefully is better prepared than one who sits fifteen and reviews none.

Sit mocks under conditions that match the published structure — one continuous sitting, all five components in order, timed at 30, 30, 30, 30 and 15 minutes, with no calculator and a clear desk. Our Queensland Academies preparation strategies set out where mocks fit across the four phases of a full plan.

What free or low-cost resources are worth starting with?

Begin with the official Queensland Government information and EduTest's published sample material, both of which are freely available and set the correct expectations for format and difficulty. Braintree Coaching Australia's free mock tests pack adds EduTest-style sample quizzes in our online classroom at no cost, and our Queensland Academies practice tests page explains what those free samples cover and where full-length timed papers start. For short parent-led item walkthroughs before full-length mocks, use our Queensland Academies Year 7 sample questions with worked solutions.

From there, a single good EduTest-style practice book per component is usually enough to build a daily drill routine without overwhelming a child with material. There is little benefit in buying every available pack; depth of review on a smaller set of papers beats a large library of papers sat once and never revisited.

Can we use the same practice materials for HAST and the Queensland Academies?

No. Keep the two sets of material separate. From our tutor intake notes, families targeting both Brisbane State High School, which uses HAST, and the Queensland Academies, which use an EduTest-style entrance test, consistently underestimate how far apart the two pathways sit. The tests differ, the fees differ, and the application timelines differ, so preparation has to be split by pathway rather than blended into one programme.

In practice that means two sets of timed material and two calendars on the fridge. Use BSHS practice resources for the HAST track and this page for the Academies track. The vendor-facing EduTest practice resources page is secondary here; it is not the matched Queensland Academies practice owner. Where the pathways genuinely overlap is the underlying skill work — reading speed, mental arithmetic, writing under time — so daily drills can serve both. Full-length mocks cannot: a paper written for one instrument rehearses the wrong structure for the other, and a child who has only ever sat one format will lose time on the day to the unfamiliar one.

What should we do this week once materials are sorted?

Confirm which campus pathway you are practising for on our QASMT Toowong guide, QACI Kelvin Grove guide or QAHS Gold Coast guide, or reopen the campus selection guide if the campus is still open. Our Queensland Academies preparation strategies provide a four-phase plan, our Queensland Academies results guide explains how the test is scored, and our Queensland Academies FAQ answers the questions parents ask most often. A structured Queensland Academies course can run the schedule end to end after official-first familiarisation; it is optional. The Queensland Government publishes the authoritative description of each academy and its entry process at the official Queensland Academies website.