ACER vs EduTest vs Academic Assessment Services: Australia's Scholarship Tests Compared

ACER, EduTest and Academic Assessment Services run most Australian private school scholarship exams. Here's how the three tests differ and how to prepare. The part many parents miss: you don't choose which test your child sits. The school does, and that decision shapes everything from question style to whether the section clock is even published.

The three tests are cousins, not triplets. A child drilled on curriculum-style maths can be rattled by ACER's abstract reasoning; a child comfortable with unhurried work can be thrown by EduTest's sprint format. Knowing which provider sits behind your target school is the most useful preparation intelligence you can gather.

This guide compares all three: contents, timing, question style, the schools behind each, what the questions feel like, and a sensible six-month preparation plan built on official materials. Every date and fact comes from official school and provider pages, but schools change providers and dates between cycles, so always confirm the current cycle. For the full application process, start with our complete guide to private school scholarships in Australia.

Contents

• The three providers at a glance
• What is the ACER scholarship test?
• What is EduTest and how does it work?
• What is the Academic Assessment Services test?
• How do the three tests compare on difficulty and style?
• What does each test feel like? Illustrative sample questions
• Which test will your child sit?
• A recommended six-month study plan
• FAQs
• Key takeaways
• Sources and further reading

The three providers at a glance

ACER runs reasoning-heavy exams and a cooperative February test day shared by multiple schools. EduTest runs five short, sharply timed sections in about two and a half hours. Academic Assessment Services (AAS) runs the most curriculum-aligned test of the three, in two sessions with a recess. Here's the side-by-side view.

The turnaround figures come from AAS's own comparison of the three providers, so treat them as one company's summary; in practice all three report to schools within a week or two.

What is the ACER scholarship test?

ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research, runs scholarship testing at four levels covering entry from Year 4 to Year 12. Its tests are deliberately the most abstract of the three, and ACER says so openly: they're "designed to be more challenging than other selective entry tests to separate the highest-ability students from their high-ability cohort".

Levels and entry years

ACER structures its program by entry year, not by the year your child is in now. Primary (sometimes called Level P in older prep materials) covers entry into Years 4-6. Level 1 covers entry into Years 7-8, Level 2 covers Years 9-10, and Level 3 covers Years 11-12. A child sitting for Year 7 entry sits Level 1, usually while in Year 6.

What's in the ACER test?

The Primary test has three components: Reading and Viewing, Mathematics, and Writing. The secondary levels have three as well: Written Expression, Humanities, and Mathematics. Written Expression typically involves two separate writing tasks, commonly one creative and one persuasive. Humanities is multiple-choice comprehension of both written and visual material, so cartoons, graphs and images appear alongside prose.

One thing ACER doesn't do is publish section durations or question counts, so be sceptical of any tutoring site quoting exact ACER timings. What it does say is that its tests are built to "rank applicants, finely differentiating between results at the top end of performance".

The Cooperative Scholarship Testing Program

ACER's distinctive feature is the Cooperative Scholarship Testing Program (CSTP): one common test date, one sitting, with results sent to up to six nominated participating schools. For a child applying to several ACER schools, that's one Saturday morning instead of four.

As a current example, the 2027-entry cycle opened on 22 September 2025; South Australian candidates (under the ACEP cooperative) sat on Saturday 7 February 2026 and other states on Saturday 28 February 2026. Dates change annually, so check the ACER registration site. Schools can also commission alternative-date testing on any date, choosing their components, with results going to that school only within 10 business days.

Which schools use ACER?

ACER publishes a participating schools list, which is the quickest way to check a specific school. Verified examples include PLC Melbourne, Xavier College, MLC Kew and Ivanhoe Grammar in Victoria; Shore, The Scots College, SCEGGS Darlinghurst and Monte Sant' Angelo in Sydney; Brisbane Grammar, Brisbane Girls Grammar, Churchie and Nudgee in Queensland; and St Peter's College and Prince Alfred College in Adelaide through the ACEP cooperative.

Timing quirks exist within that list: Brisbane Grammar tests on campus each February, while Ivanhoe runs its exams in October.

What is EduTest and how does it work?

EduTest runs the fastest-paced of the three exams: five sections in roughly two and a half hours, with the clock published to the minute. Where ACER leans abstract and AAS leans curricular, EduTest rewards quick, accurate decision-making across a high volume of short multiple-choice questions.

The five EduTest sections

EduTest publishes its structure precisely: Verbal Reasoning (30 minutes, multiple choice), Numerical Reasoning (30 minutes), Reading Comprehension (30 minutes), Mathematics (30 minutes, testing "year level appropriate mathematical knowledge"), and Written Expression (15 minutes). Wesley College's FAQ puts the whole session at about 2.5 hours.

Prep companies consistently describe EduTest questions as shorter and more speed-focused than ACER's reasoning-heavy items. That's industry consensus rather than an official claim, but the arithmetic backs it: four 30-minute multiple-choice sections leave little time to ponder.

The 15-minute writing task

The writing section is EduTest's sharpest edge. Fifteen minutes, with "no planning or reading time", in EduTest's own words. The moment the task appears, the clock is running. Work is assessed on "punctuation, creativity, construction, grammar, spelling and relevance to the task", so a child who habitually spends five minutes planning needs to practise a faster routine: 30 seconds of mental mapping, then write.

Online delivery and the no-retest rule

EduTest runs on paper and online. Haileybury, for instance, runs its Year 7 and Year 10 scholarship testing online at home, virtually supervised by EduTest supervisors, so your child may sit a major exam at your kitchen table. Registration goes through each school's EduTest link, under a single parent account.

There's no second chance within a cycle, either. EduTest states that results reflect "a student's performance on that particular testing occasion only", with no retest. That's a strong argument for the timed-practice phase of the study plan below.

Which schools use EduTest?

EduTest's verified school list skews Melbourne: Haileybury, Caulfield Grammar, Carey Baptist Grammar, St Catherine's Toorak and Wesley College Melbourne all use it. In Sydney, Cranbrook uses EduTest as the second stage of its two-stage process, after an application shortlist.

Dates vary more than you'd expect. Caulfield's 2027-entry exam ran 9am to noon on Saturday 7 February 2026, the classic pattern. Haileybury tests earliest of all: its current round is already for 2028 entry, with applicants sitting in June 2026 while in Years 3, 5 and 8.

What is the Academic Assessment Services test?

AAS runs the test that feels most like school. The company describes its assessments as aligned "to the curriculum and state-based authority requirements", written by Australian educators with over 50 years in the field. Don't mistake familiar for easy, though: AAS says its maths is "heavily weighted to reasoning rather than simply learned skills".

What's in the AAS test?

AAS assessments cover four areas: Writing; Reading Comprehension; Mathematics across numbers, measurement, space and geometry, data, patterns and algebra, and working mathematically; and Reasoning in four distinct types, which are verbal, mathematical, figural and spatial. Figural and spatial reasoning, think rotated shapes and visual patterns, are the components least like everyday classroom work.

The reading paper rewards "interpretation, inference and synthesis" rather than simple fact-finding. In plain terms: your child won't just be asked what happened in a passage, but why, and what it implies.

How an AAS test day runs

AAS publishes its session structure, which helps children know what's coming. Each session runs 40-50 minutes, with the written expression task taking 25-30 minutes, organised into two sessions separated by a 20-minute recess. Questions are mostly multiple choice with four or five options.

Delivery is paper or online for Years 3-11, invigilated by AAS or the school, with webcam supervision for remote sittings. Unlike ACER, there's no cooperative day: each school sets its own date, so a child applying to three AAS schools may sit three separate exams.

Which schools use AAS, and how do they use the results?

AAS dominates Sydney's big independents. Knox Grammar directs scholarship applicants to the AAS portal, The King's School and Newington College both use AAS, and Barker College runs its AAS exams entirely online (you can't sit them at Barker). Melbourne Grammar uses AAS too, and is an early outlier: its 2028-entry exam falls on 29 August 2026. Knox's next exams run in late February 2027 for 2028 entry.

Pymble Ladies' College shows how the scores get used. Its all-rounder candidates sit the AAS exam and must "score results in Stanine 8-9 in all testing categories" (a stanine is a standard nine-band score scale, with 9 the top band). Even then, Pymble warns that "not all candidates who meet the basic criteria proceed to interview". The test opens the door; it doesn't hand over the scholarship.

How do the three tests compare on difficulty and style?

Honest answer: none of the three is the easy option, and a bright child can find any of them hard. They differ in what makes them hard. ACER stretches abstract reasoning, EduTest compresses time, and AAS demands depth within curriculum territory. "Different, not easier" is the frame worth keeping.

ACER stakes the strongest public claim to difficulty, describing its tests as "more challenging than other selective entry tests" and built to finely separate the top end. Expect unfamiliar question types and content beyond the syllabus. Speed matters less; thinking flexibly matters more.

EduTest's challenge is velocity. Four 30-minute multiple-choice sections plus a 15-minute unplanned writing task reward children who decide quickly, skip strategically and keep moving. A perfectionist who agonises over question three can run out of clock with easy marks unclaimed.

AAS sits closest to the classroom, but its reasoning papers (figural and spatial especially) go well beyond it, and its maths is weighted to reasoning over learned procedure. One caveat above all: schools change providers between cycles, so confirm the current provider before you invest months in one test's style.

What does each test feel like? Illustrative sample questions

Real scholarship questions are copyrighted and never published, so what follows are illustrative examples we've written in the style of each provider, pitched at Year 6 level. They're for flavour, not drilling; genuine preparation belongs with the official practice materials linked in the study plan below.

Verbal analogy, in the style of an EduTest Verbal Reasoning item. Scarce is to plentiful as fragile is to: (A) delicate (B) broken (C) sturdy (D) glass. Answer: C. The relationship is opposites, and a prepared child spots it in seconds; in a 30-minute section, seconds count.

Number pattern, in the style of an EduTest Numerical Reasoning item. What number comes next: 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, ...? Answer: 19; the gaps grow by one each time. ACER's maths leans on similar pattern-spotting but typically wraps it in less familiar formats.

Reading inference, in the style of an AAS or ACER comprehension item. "Sam's boots were by the door, still caked in mud, and his fishing rod leaned against the wall. His grandmother smiled and put a third plate on the table without asking." What can the reader infer? (A) Sam is about to leave on a fishing trip (B) Sam has been fishing and is expected to stay for dinner (C) Sam's grandmother is annoyed about the mud (D) Sam has misplaced his boots. Answer: B. Nothing is stated outright; this is the "interpretation, inference and synthesis" AAS says its reading paper rewards.

Writing prompts. In the style of EduTest's 15-minute task: "Write about a time you changed your mind about something important." No planning time, straight in. In the style of ACER's two-task Written Expression: a creative prompt ("Write a story beginning: 'The gate had been locked for as long as anyone could remember'") paired with a persuasive one ("'Homework should be replaced by reading for pleasure.' Do you agree?").

Which test will your child sit?

The school decides, so start at the school's scholarship page: most name their provider outright or reveal it through the registration link (Churchie's ACER use, for example, shows via its registration portal). For ACER specifically, the participating schools list gives a definitive current answer.

Geography is a surprisingly good first guess. Melbourne skews EduTest (Haileybury, Caulfield, Carey, St Catherine's, Wesley), with a solid ACER contingent (MLC, PLC, Ivanhoe) and AAS at Melbourne Grammar. Sydney skews AAS (King's, Newington, Knox, Barker), with exceptions like SCEGGS (ACER) and Cranbrook (EduTest). Brisbane and Adelaide skew heavily ACER.

Then there's the exception that proves the rule: Sydney Grammar runs its own exam, paper-based English and mathematics papers "set and marked by Grammar's teaching staff". A handful of other schools name no provider at all. If you're comparing targets, our top 20 Australian private schools offering scholarships lists the verified provider for each, and our private school entry timeline maps the dates. And if your shortlist spans providers, practise both formats rather than perfecting one.

A recommended six-month study plan

Six months is enough time to prepare well without turning Year 6 into a grind. The plan below moves from broad foundations to provider-specific, timed work, using official practice materials only, and keeps the weekly load moderate. We'd suggest around three to four hours a week, holding steady rather than escalating.

Two balancing notes. First, the strongest long-term preparation isn't test drilling; daily reading and number fluency do more, and we unpack the evidence in how to improve scholarship chances without tutoring. Second, Sydney Grammar explicitly discourages coaching for its exam. Familiarisation so the format holds no surprises is sensible; months of paid drilling is not what any school is asking for. For a longer runway, see when to start preparing for private school scholarships.

FAQs

Can my child practise on the actual tests?

No. Real papers are copyrighted and never released, so treat anyone selling "actual past papers" with suspicion. All three providers supply official practice materials: ACER through its parent-account Practice Materials tab, EduTest through 90-day online interactive tests, and AAS through practice tests, a parents' guide and a full-length Year 6 exam.

Which of the three tests is the hardest?

There's no ranking, only different demands. ACER positions its tests as "more challenging than other selective entry tests" and leans on abstract reasoning. EduTest compresses everything into strict 30- and 15-minute windows, so time pressure is the difficulty. AAS stays closest to the curriculum but weights maths toward reasoning. Any of them can be hard.

Can my child sit more than one provider's test?

Yes, and it's common when a shortlist spans providers. ACER's cooperative program softens the load on one side: one February sitting covers up to six participating schools. EduTest and AAS exams are school-specific, so each school on your list generally means a separate sitting. Watch for date clashes in February.

What actually happens on test day?

Plan for a half-day morning. Caulfield's EduTest ran 9am to noon, Knox's AAS morning runs roughly 8:45am to 12:30pm, and AAS structures its day as two sessions with a 20-minute recess. Some schools test online at home instead: Haileybury's EduTest sittings are virtually supervised, and Barker's AAS exams are online only.

How are scholarship results reported?

Results go to the schools, typically within about 7-10 working days according to AAS's published comparison. Schools often receive stanine scores, a nine-band scale; Pymble, for one, requires "Stanine 8-9 in all testing categories" for its all-rounder award. If banded scoring is unfamiliar, our NAPLAN results explainer covers how to read standardised score bands.

Do all private schools use one of these three companies?

Most, but not all. Sydney Grammar sets and marks its own paper-based English and mathematics exams in-house, and some schools simply refer to an "independent scholarship examination" without naming the provider. When a school's page doesn't say, ask admissions directly; the answer changes how your child should prepare.

How much preparation time per week is reasonable?

In our view, around three to four hours a week over six months is plenty, folded into normal routines like nightly reading. Escalating to nightly drilling risks burnout before a February exam, and schools aren't asking for it: Sydney Grammar actively discourages coaching. Consistency across months beats intensity in the final weeks.

When are the scholarship tests held?

February of the year before entry is the dominant window, while your child is in Year 6 for Year 7 entry. ACER's cooperative sittings for 2027 entry ran on 7 and 28 February 2026. But exceptions abound: Haileybury tested in June, Ivanhoe tests in October, Melbourne Grammar in August. Dates change annually, so confirm on each school's website.

Key takeaways

• ACER, EduTest and Academic Assessment Services run most Australian private school scholarship exams. The school picks the provider, not you.
• ACER is reasoning-heavy, doesn't publish section timings, and its cooperative February sitting covers up to six schools at once.
• EduTest publishes exact timings (four 30-minute sections plus a 15-minute unplanned writing task) and offers no retest.
• AAS is the most curriculum-aligned, runs two sessions with a 20-minute recess, and dominates Sydney's big independents.
• None is "easier": ACER stretches reasoning, EduTest compresses time, AAS demands inference and depth.
• Use official practice materials only; real papers are copyrighted and never released.
• Providers and dates change between cycles, so always confirm on the school's current scholarship page.

Once you know which test your child will sit, the next question is which schools deserve a place on your shortlist. Use AroundSchools to find and compare schools near you, then work through the complete scholarships guide to plan the application itself.

Sources and further reading

• ACER Scholarship Tests and ACER participating schools
• ACER scholarship registration portal
• EduTest and EduTest practice test FAQ
• Academic Assessment Services and AAS scholarship testing comparison
• Sydney Grammar School scholarships
• Knox Grammar scholarships
• Caulfield Grammar academic scholarships
• Haileybury academic scholarships
• Pymble Ladies' College All-rounder Scholarship
• Brisbane Grammar School scholarships and bursaries