ACER HAST: what the Higher Ability Selection Test covers and how to prepare

The Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST) is published by ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research. In NSW it is one of two tests used for selective high school entry above Year 7: each selective school runs its own Years 8–11 entry, and the test it sets is either ACER's HAST or EduTest. Students sit it in Years 7 to 10 for entry to Years 8 to 11. Some Victorian SEAL programs use HAST, and Brisbane State High School uses it for Years 8–11 entry when a test is required, with the primary-level HAST-P sat in Year 5 for Year 7 entry.

ACER's 2024 Student Information Bulletin (Secondary) describes four tests. Reading Comprehension: 45 minutes, 35–40 multiple-choice questions on written and visual material, including charts and diagrams. Mathematical Reasoning: 40 minutes, 28–35 questions; ACER describes it as a test of mathematical ability rather than school achievement, and the Middle and Senior Secondary forms include science. Abstract Reasoning: 30 minutes, 30 questions on wordless figural patterns. Written Expression: 25 minutes, one task from a picture or a statement. A school may set Written Expression instead of Abstract Reasoning, so check the package your school uses. Questions have four options, wrong answers do not cost marks, and calculators and dictionaries are not allowed.

Two features catch students out. Abstract Reasoning has no words at all — the next figure in a sequence, the missing middle of a sequence, completing a matrix — and nothing at school teaches it directly. And the test is only part of the decision: NSW schools also weigh the two most recent school reports, the last two NAPLAN reports, certificates and evidence of activities outside class, and some interview a shortlist. No school publishes how much the test counts, so nobody can honestly say what mark is needed.

Good preparation covers all four tests, not only the familiar ones. Read widely, including articles with graphs and tables. For Mathematical Reasoning, practise unfamiliar multi-step problems without a calculator, including reading data from simple experiments. Give Abstract Reasoning short, regular sessions, because recognising pattern types — rotation, alternation, counting — comes with exposure. Write a timed 25-minute piece regularly. And confirm, school by school, whether HAST or EduTest is set, because they are not the same shape.