Scholarship Test Preparation 2027: ACER, EduTest and AAS

A scholarship test is an entrance assessment an independent or Catholic school uses to rank applicants for academic scholarships, which usually reduce tuition fees. Australian schools mostly use one of three providers: the ACER Scholarship Tests, EduTest or Academic Assessment Services (AAS). The school chooses the provider, not the family, and the three papers are not interchangeable. Braintree Coaching Australia's advice to every family is to confirm the provider and the level for each school first, then practise that paper.

Which scholarship test does each school use?

Each school names its own provider on its scholarship or admissions page. The table compares the three providers using their own published information, checked on 30 October 2026.

Detail	ACER Scholarship Tests	EduTest	AAS
Written by	Australian Council for Educational Research	Edutest	Academic Assessment Services
Entry years	Level P: Years 4–6 · Levels 1–3: Years 7–12	Not stated by EduTest; schools set the year levels	Years 3–11
Sections	Level P: Reading and Viewing, Mathematics, Writing · Levels 1–3: Written Expression, Humanities, Mathematics	Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics, Written Expression	Writing, Reading comprehension, Mathematics, Reasoning (verbal, mathematical, figural, spatial)
Published timings	Not published; confirm with the school	30 min each for the four multiple-choice tests · Written Expression 15 min, no planning or reading time	Each exam 40–50 min, two sessions with a 20-minute recess · writing 25–30 min
Delivery	Level P on paper · Levels 1–3 online or on paper	Confirmed by the school	Paper or online, as the school chooses
Results	ACER reports to the school	Go to the school; EduTest does not give parents results	Typically 10 days after the last testing day, to the school
Our preparation page	ACER Scholarship Test preparation	EduTest scholarship exam preparation	AAS practice packs coming soon

None of the three providers publishes question counts on the pages above. A practice paper that claims an exact count is not based on a published format.

How do we find out which test our child will sit?

You find the test on the school's own scholarship page, not on a coaching site. Use these five steps for every school on your list:

1. Open the school's scholarship page for the entry year you want, for example Year 7 entry in 2028.
2. Write down the provider (ACER, EduTest, AAS or another), the level or entry year, the closing date and the test date. Our scholarship application organiser gives you one page per school for this.
3. For ACER schools, check the programme type on ACER's participating-schools list. Cooperative schools share one sitting; Alternative-date schools run their own.
4. Register and pay through each school. Every school charges its own application fee, and there is no national fee.
5. Match the practice to the paper. Open the ACER or EduTest page for your school's provider and level, and keep each provider's timed papers separate.

Is the ACER Scholarship Test the same as HAST or the Victorian selective exam?

No. The ACER Scholarship Tests, HAST (the Higher Ability Selection Test) and the Victorian selective entry high school exam are three separate tests that all involve ACER. ACER's name on a form does not tell you which paper your child will sit.

Test	What it is for	Who sits it	Where to start
ACER Scholarship Tests	Academic scholarships at independent schools	Level P for Years 4–6 entry; Level 1 for Year 7 or 8 entry; Level 2 for Year 9 or 10; Level 3 for Year 11 or 12	ACER Scholarship Test preparation
Victorian selective entry high school exam	Year 9 places at Melbourne High, Mac.Robertson Girls', Nossal and Suzanne Cory	Year 8 students applying for Year 9 entry; ACER manages applications and offers	Victoria SEHS preparation
HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test)	Selective or high-ability entry at schools that choose it	Primary and Secondary levels, depending on the school	HAST exam preparation

Which ACER test does my child sit in Victoria?

In Victoria the two ACER tests families meet most are easy to tell apart by year level. A Year 6 child applying for a Year 7 scholarship at an independent school that names ACER sits the ACER Scholarship Test, Secondary Level 1, on that school's ACER date (Cooperative or Alternative-date). A Year 8 child applying to one of the four government selective schools sits the Victorian selective entry exam for Year 9 entry. They have different sections, though strong reading and writing help with both. If a school's page names HAST instead, that is a third, separate ACER test: start on HAST exam preparation.

When are the scholarship test dates for 2028 entry?

The ACER Scholarship Test Cooperative sitting for 2028 entry is Saturday 27 February 2027, and the ACEP sitting for SA schools is Saturday 6 February 2027. Every other ACER, EduTest and AAS date is set by the school. These are the 2028-entry dates ACER publishes on its parents page, checked on 30 October 2026:

ACER programme	Schools	Applications	Test date
Cooperative	Queensland, NSW, NT, WA and Victorian schools in the programme	Opened Mon 21 Sep 2026 · close midnight AEDT Sun 7 Feb 2027	Sat 27 Feb 2027
ACEP	SA schools	Opened Mon 21 Sep 2026 · close 11:30pm ACDT Fri 22 Jan 2027	Sat 6 Feb 2027

Most Victorian ACER schools run Alternative-date sittings instead. These rows are copied from ACER's participating-schools list on 30 October 2026. Schools can change their dates, so check the school's own page before you register.

Victorian school	ACER programme	Applications close	Test date
Oakleigh Grammar	Alternative date	Sun 1 Nov 2026	Sat 7 Nov 2026
Presbyterian Ladies' College	Alternative date	Wed 20 Jan 2027	Sat 30 Jan 2027
Xavier College	Alternative date	Fri 29 Jan 2027	Fri 12 Feb 2027
Penleigh and Essendon Grammar (Level 1)	Alternative date	Wed 3 Feb 2027	Sat 13 Feb 2027
St Kevin's College (Level 1, Year 7)	Alternative date	Wed 17 Feb 2027	Sat 27 Feb 2027
Good News Lutheran College	Cooperative	Sun 7 Feb 2027	Sat 27 Feb 2027

Many other Victorian rows still read "Not confirmed". EduTest and AAS publish no central calendar: each school sets its own date, and AAS says schools choose the dates that suit them, including when registrations open.

What does each scholarship test cover?

The ACER Scholarship Tests, EduTest and AAS all test writing, reading and mathematics, but only EduTest has separate Verbal and Numerical Reasoning sections and only AAS includes figural and spatial reasoning.

ACER Scholarship Tests

The ACER Scholarship Tests are ACER's scholarship papers for independent schools. Primary Level P (Years 4–6 entry) has Reading and Viewing, Mathematics and Writing, on paper. Secondary Levels 1–3 (Years 7–12 entry) have Written Expression, Humanities and Mathematics, online or on paper. In Written Expression your child may write a story or a persuasive piece, and ACER says the quality of thinking matters more than the amount written. ACER sells practice tests through the parent account but has no past papers for purchase. Brisbane Grammar School, for example, requires the ACER Scholarship Examination for its Trustees' Scholarships, sat in Year 6 or Year 9. The Queensland grammar school scholarships guide covers more Queensland schools. Level choice, registration and dates are covered on our ACER Scholarship Test preparation page, and level-matched drills are on ACER Scholarship practice resources.

EduTest

EduTest is a five-section test used by independent schools for scholarships and entrance, and by some selective programmes. EduTest groups the sections as Ability tests (Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Reasoning) and Achievement tests (Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Written Expression). The four multiple-choice tests run 30 minutes each, and Written Expression runs 15 minutes with no planning or reading time. Any of six writing modes may be set: creative, descriptive, narrative, persuasive, expository or informative. Calculators, rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, phones and smart watches are not allowed. Our EduTest scholarship exams parent guide covers registration and results. Section-by-section preparation is on our EduTest scholarship exam preparation page, with timed practice packs for Year 7–8 entry, Year 9–10 entry and Year 11 entry.

AAS (Academic Assessment Services)

AAS is an independent assessment company that runs scholarship tests for participating schools from Year 3 to Year 11. The tests cover Writing, Reading comprehension, Mathematics and Reasoning, and the Reasoning domain includes verbal, mathematical, figural and spatial items. Each exam is 40–50 minutes, in two sessions with a 20-minute recess; the writing exam is 25–30 minutes. Schools choose paper or online delivery, and AAS says most run paper tests on site and online tests at home. Families enrol through a school-branded portal. Schools that name AAS include Pymble Ladies' College for its Junior Academic Scholarship, and Churchie, which uses AAS for its scholarship testing.

AAS practice packs from Braintree Coaching Australia are coming soon. Until then, ask the school whether it recommends AAS practice material.

How should we prepare when schools use different tests?

Families applying to more than one school should prepare skills that carry across all three tests first, then switch to provider-specific timed papers. The differences in the published formats show where practice transfers and where it does not:

Skill	ACER Scholarship	EduTest	AAS
Writing under time	Written Expression (Levels 1–3) or Writing (Level P); timing confirmed by school	15 minutes, no planning time, any of six modes	25–30 minutes
Reasoning without a calculator	Mathematics	Numerical Reasoning (series, matrices, arithmetic reasoning, deduction)	Mathematical reasoning
Word reasoning	Humanities passages	Verbal Reasoning (vocabulary, word relationships, classification, deduction)	Verbal reasoning
Visual patterns	No published section	No published section	Figural and spatial reasoning

From that table, Braintree Coaching Australia suggests this order:

1. Shared foundations first. Wide reading, calculator-free arithmetic and one timed writing piece a week help on every paper.
2. Match the writing clock. A child heading for EduTest needs to start writing almost immediately, because there are 15 minutes and no planning time. A child heading for AAS has longer, so plan, then write.
3. Add the provider-only skills. EduTest needs Verbal and Numerical Reasoning drills. AAS needs figural and spatial reasoning. ACER Secondary needs Humanities passage work.
4. Finish with full timed papers for each provider on your list, and review every wrong answer before the next paper. Our free mock tests help with on-screen timing, though they are not official ACER, EduTest or AAS papers.

Our recommended maximum for scholarship or EduTest preparation is 6–7 hours a week, class time included, easing off in the final fortnight. That is Braintree Coaching Australia's coaching guidance, not an exam rule or a promise of a result. Bring it down if sleep, mood or family time starts to suffer.

What does an EduTest-style numerical reasoning question look like?

EduTest says its Numerical Reasoning section includes series and matrices. This warm-up question was written by Braintree Coaching Australia to show the skill. It is not an official EduTest item.

Question. What number comes next? 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, ?

(A) 25 · (B) 27 · (C) 29 · (D) 31

Answer: (C) 29. From the third term on, each number is the sum of the two before it: 3 + 4 = 7, 4 + 7 = 11, 7 + 11 = 18, so 11 + 18 = 29. You can also see it in the gaps (1, 3, 4, 7), where each gap is the sum of the two before it, so the next gap is 4 + 7 = 11. The common trap is (A) 25, which repeats the last gap of 7. When the gaps keep growing, check whether earlier terms or gaps combine before you assume a fixed step.

For an ACER-style warm-up, the ACER Scholarship Test preparation page has a Secondary Mathematics sequence question with a worked answer. Untimed EduTest-style sets are on EduTest practice by section.

Which Braintree Coaching Australia scholarship preparation fits our school?

Once you know the provider and level, use this table to pick the matching preparation page.

Your school names	Start here	Then practise with
ACER Scholarship (Level P or Levels 1–3)	ACER Scholarship Test preparation	ACER Scholarship practice resources · Humanities passages · Mathematics word problems
EduTest	EduTest scholarship exam preparation	Year 7–8 packs · Year 9–10 packs · Year 11 packs
AAS	Coming soon	The school's recommended AAS materials, plus shared reading and writing practice
Two different providers	ACER vs EduTest prep tracks	Separate timed papers for each provider

If you are unsure which level your child's school has registered, book a 15-minute call with the head tutor and bring the school's scholarship page. We will help you read it; the school's own page remains the source of truth.

Is a scholarship test the same as a selective school test?

No. A scholarship test is set by a fee-paying independent school to award a fee reduction. A selective school test decides places at government selective schools, and each state runs its own: the NSW Selective High School Placement Test, the Victorian selective entry exam for Year 9, and EduTest-based entry for the Queensland Academies. If your child is sitting both, practise each paper separately. If a private scholarship offer and a selective place are both on the table, our guide to choosing between a scholarship and a selective school walks through that decision.

Last updated: 2026-10-30. Reviewed by the Braintree Coaching Australia Academic Team. Provider facts were checked on 30 October 2026 against ACER Scholarship Tests, ACER's parents page, ACER's participating-schools list, EduTest's parents page, the EduTest FAQ, AAS scholarship tests and the Victorian selective entry high schools page.