The HAST Test: A Parent's Guide to ACER's Selection Test

If a school has told you your child will sit “the HAST”, it means ACER’s Higher Ability Selection Test. Schools in several states use it to choose students for selective classes, accelerated classes and gifted programmes. This guide covers who sets it, which level your child will sit, what is on each test, and how to prepare without overdoing it.

Who sets HAST, and who decides

ACER (the Australian Council for Educational Research) writes the test, marks it and reports the results. Everything else belongs to the school. The school chooses whether to use HAST at all, which level to set, which tests are in its package, the test day, and how much weight the result carries next to reports and other evidence. Two schools that both “use HAST” can run quite different selections.

ACER’s participating-schools list names schools in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. For example, Brisbane State High School uses HAST for Year 7 selective entry, and the three schools in South Australia’s Ignite programme are on the list too.

Which level your child will sit

ACER sets HAST at four levels. The school picks the level that fits the year it is selecting for.

How to register

You register with the school, not with ACER. Find the school on ACER’s participating-schools list and contact it. Each school sets its own closing date and test day, and tells you when and where to arrive. Any fee you pay is set by the school, so ask it.

If two schools hold their tests on the same day, your child can sit only one of them. If the days differ, your child sits a separate test at each school. If your child needs an adjustment, such as a scribe after an arm injury, raise it with the school early. ACER asks for medical evidence, and the school makes the request.

Where children sit HAST in Sydney

There is no HAST test centre to book. Your child sits the test through a school that uses it, so the useful question is which schools near you are on ACER’s list. Here are the NSW schools ACER names, grouped by area.

Many of these are government selective or partially selective schools. They fill Year 7 through the NSW Selective High School Placement Test, which is not HAST, and use HAST when they choose students for later years. So ask each school which year it uses HAST for before you register. For Year 7 entry, see our guide to the NSW selective test.

What is on each test

There are three or four tests, depending on the package the school chooses. At Primary, Reading, Maths and Writing are standard and Abstract Reasoning is the school’s option. At Secondary levels, everyone sits Reading and Maths, plus Writing, Abstract Reasoning or both. The times below are from ACER’s Student Information Bulletins.

ACER gives ranges, not exact counts, because the number depends on the form used. The Secondary bulletin gives one set of times for Junior, Middle and Senior. The multiple-choice tests are answered in pencil on an answer sheet, choosing A to D. No calculator, ruler or dictionary is allowed.

Two points are worth knowing. ACER says the maths test measures mathematical ability rather than school achievement, so questions can look unlike class work. And at Middle and Senior Secondary, the maths test includes science reasoning. The information needed is given in the question; no special subject knowledge is expected.

How the writing is marked

ACER’s markers look at Thought and Content, Structure and Organisation, and Expression, Style and Mechanics. The child can respond in any way: a story, a description, an explanation, a point of view or an argument. ACER is firm on one rule. The writing must grow from the prompt, and a rehearsed piece that does not is penalised.

How results are used

ACER sends results to the school, and the school contacts you. ACER’s individual report uses percentile ranks, comparing your child with students of a similar age who sat the same test. ACER publishes no pass mark or cut-off. Each school sets its own bar and decides what else it weighs, so ask the school how it selects.

How to prepare

1. Read widely. ACER itself says reading widely and thinking critically are the best preparation. Fiction, news, explanations and poems all count.
2. Practise reasoning, not more school maths. Multi-step problems worked by hand, with no calculator, are closer to HAST than a page of sums. At Middle and Senior levels, add questions that ask your child to read a table or graph.
3. Meet abstract reasoning early, if the school includes it. Picture sequences are rarely taught in class. A few short sets make them far less strange on the day.
4. Write to fresh prompts. A new picture or statement each time, a minute or two to plan, then a complete piece inside the clock.
5. Do one or two timed papers. Reading at Secondary is close to a minute a question, including reading the texts. Feeling that pace once or twice helps more than many untimed sets.
6. Keep it in proportion. ACER says coaching is not needed and short-term cramming is unlikely to change the result. Practice should make the test familiar, not take over the year.

Practice in the HAST style

Our HAST practice covers all four levels, set by your child’s school year: Primary for Years 4 and 5, Junior Secondary for Years 6 and 7, Middle Secondary for Years 8 and 9, and Senior Secondary for Year 10. Each level has timed Reading Comprehension, Mathematical Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning papers on their own texts and questions. At Middle and Senior, data and graph questions stand in for ACER’s science reasoning. Written Expression prompts are marked against ACER’s three criteria, with your child’s own sentences quoted as the reason. You can also practise one question type at a time. Every paper is new when your child starts it, and every question is explained afterwards.

To be clear about what these are: tests we wrote in the HAST style, not real HAST questions or past papers, and we are not connected with ACER or any school that uses HAST. ACER publishes ranges, not exact lengths, so our question counts and times are our own choice close to them. Our score is the number right, not a percentile rank or a predicted result. A free account includes 3 practice tests, and the HAST pack opens unlimited tests with the answers, worked solutions and marked writing.

What’s next

Start with the HAST practice page. If your child is applying to Brisbane State High, read our Brisbane State High test guide for its two sittings. In South Australia, see the Ignite practice page. In Western Australia, the public Gifted and Talented programmes use their own test, the ASET, covered on our WA Gifted and Talented page.