Year 8 entry is the least understood HAST pathway — a different sitting year, a different school list, and in New South Wales, an entirely different system from Year 7. Here is how it actually works.
The Junior Secondary paper — the same level used for Year 7 entry, but sat a year later. ACER sets the level by the year your child is currently in when they sit, not by the year they are applying for.
| Year level when sitting | HAST level | Entry into |
|---|---|---|
| Year 4 or 5 | HAST Primary (HAST-P) | Years 5 and 6 |
| Year 6 or Year 7 | Junior Secondary | Year 7 or Year 8 |
| Year 8 or 9 | Middle Secondary | Years 9 and 10 |
| Year 10 | Senior Secondary | Year 11 |
The practical consequence. A child sitting in Year 7 for Year 8 entry takes the same Junior Secondary paper as the Year 6 students sitting for Year 7 entry — and is measured against the same high-ability reference group. Being a year older is not an advantage built into the scoring, so practice material written for the Junior level is exactly what you want.
Three sections are multiple-choice and machine-scored. The fourth is handwritten and marked by people.
Passages across fiction, non-fiction and argument, testing inference, tone and the writer’s purpose rather than locating a stated fact.
Multi-step problems, data interpretation and scientific reasoning. The arithmetic is rarely hard; holding the steps in order under time pressure is.
Pattern, sequence and matrix puzzles using shapes. Nothing in the Year 7 curriculum resembles it, so cold exposure on the day costs marks.
A single writing task from a stimulus, marked by trained markers. A response that ignores the stimulus scores poorly however polished it is.
Not every school sits all four. Confirm which components apply before building a study plan around them, and check ACER’s Candidate Information Bulletin for the exact structure of your child’s sitting.
This is the part that surprises most Sydney families. For Year 7 entry, NSW government selective schools do not use HAST at all — they use the centrally run NSW Selective High School Placement Test. But from Year 8 onwards the system changes completely.
Years 8 to 12 entry is decentralised. The NSW Department of Education states that each selective school manages its own vacancies, assessments and placement decisions. There is no central test and no central application. Each school chooses its own test — and the two that dominate are ACER HAST and Edutest. Which one your child needs depends entirely on which schools you apply to.
Each school states HAST or ACER on its own enrolment pages. Many share a common sitting date in August for entry the following year.
Equally competitive schools, different test. Preparing only for HAST will not prepare your child for these, and a family applying across both groups may need to sit both.
These schools appear on ACER’s HAST participating-schools register and run their own Years 8+ entry, but their own websites do not name the test. Contact the school directly before you prepare.
Fort Street High School is the exception worth knowing. It uses HAST, but only for Year 11 entry — its own site states there is no entrance test for Years 8 to 10. If Fort Street is on your list for Year 8, the pathway is not a test.
Year 12 entry is effectively closed. Most selective schools state plainly that they do not admit new students in Year 12. If you are considering a late move, Years 8 to 10 are where the vacancies realistically sit.
There is a second way HAST is used in New South Wales, and confusing the two costs families a lot of wasted effort. Several ordinary comprehensive government high schools — schools you enter by catchment, not by test — use HAST to decide who goes into their gifted or enrichment class.
At schools such as Epping Boys and Beverly Hills Girls, students sit HAST after enrolling. The test does not get your child into the school — it gets them into the class. Northmead CAPA runs the same model for its high potential and gifted placement.
Homebush Boys runs it differently again: students already in Years 7, 8 and 9 sit HAST for placement in the enrichment class entering Years 8, 9 and 10. This is a genuine Year 8 pathway, but for students already at the school.
Ask one question before you prepare: does this test decide whether my child gets into the school, or which class they sit in once they are there? The preparation is the same, but the stakes, the timing and the application process are not.
Fifty-nine schools outside New South Wales sit on the HAST participating register. Fifty-two are listed at junior secondary level — the paper behind Year 7 and Year 8 entry — and those are tagged below. Read the tag carefully: the junior secondary paper is sat in Year 6 or Year 7, so a school on this list may run a Year 7 intake only. Being on the register tells you which paper a school uses, not which year it admits. The three South Australian Ignite Program schools are the clearest exception, selecting directly into Year 8.
The largest group outside NSW. Almost all of them test at junior secondary level, but in Victoria that overwhelmingly means a Year 7 intake — confirm a Year 8 place exists before you prepare. 28 listed at junior secondary.
Every school here uses the junior secondary paper. Most test in Year 6 for Year 7 entry, so ask specifically about Year 8. 11 listed at junior secondary.
The three Ignite Program schools are the clearest Year 8 entry point outside New South Wales — they select into Year 8, not Year 7. 6 listed at junior secondary, 3 on the Ignite Program.
All independent, and separate from the state GATE process, which runs its own test rather than HAST. 7 listed at junior secondary.
One school outside Australia sits on the same register, at middle secondary level only. None listed at junior secondary.
South Australia is the standout. Aberfoyle Park, Glenunga International and The Heights run the Ignite Program with entry into Year 8, which makes them the most direct Year 8 equivalent to the NSW system anywhere on this list. If you are in Adelaide and your child is in Year 7, these are the three to look at first.
Two questions worth asking every school you ring. First: is your intake at Year 7, Year 8, or both? Most schools on this list fill at Year 7 and keep later places for students already enrolled. Second: which test do you use this year? Some schools use the ACER Scholarship Test or Edutest rather than HAST, and at least one has changed provider recently.
Source: our own complete list of HAST participating schools. NSW schools are covered in the section above.
Machine-scored for consistency, and reported against a high-ability reference group rather than the general population. A child who tops their Year 7 cohort can still land mid-range — that is the test working as designed.
Judged against set criteria: whether the response is appropriate to the theme it was given, structure and creativity, and grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary.
Schools decide, not ACER. ACER marks the paper and reports results; each school sets its own threshold, and for Year 8 entry the number of places is driven by vacancies rather than a fixed intake. A strong score competes for whatever places exist that year, which is why applying to several schools matters more at Year 8 than at Year 7.
Your child is in Year 7 and already carrying a high school workload, so the plan has to be lighter and more consistent than a Year 6 plan would be.
Before any study, so you know which of the four sections is genuinely weak rather than guessing. Say in advance that the score will be modest.
It has no Year 7 classroom equivalent, so it has the steepest early gains. Short frequent sessions beat long ones — the skill is recognising rule types.
Reviewed against the marking criteria, with two minutes spent planning first. This is the section families skip and the one where structured practice pays off fastest.
Same start time, no pausing the clock. The real sitting is on paper, so move the last two or three onto paper.
Year 7 reports feed into most Years 8+ applications, so preparation should not come at the cost of school marks. Taper in the final fortnight.
A reasoning test cannot be crammed, so our material is built around the two things that actually move a score: repeated exposure to the question styles, and honest feedback on where the marks are being lost.
Papers pitched at the Junior Secondary paper your child will actually sit, not a generic HAST set. The Middle and Senior papers are pitched differently.
Reading Comprehension, Mathematical and Scientific Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning and Written Expression — including the abstract questions with no classroom equivalent.
Every set is built to be sat under the clock, because pacing is what separates students who know the material from students who finish the paper.
Discursive writing from a verbal stimulus and creative or narrative writing from a visual one, styled on the ACER format.
An actual marked response with highlighted passages and comments in the margin, returned within three to four working days.
Sectional results across several attempts show a trend rather than a single number, so study time goes to the section that will move the score most.
Applying to both HAST and Edutest schools? Our HAST + EduTest combo plans are built for exactly that situation — NSW students in Years 8 to 10 preparing for both tests in the same year.
Written for the Junior Secondary level, covering all four sections under real exam timing.
Whatever stage you are at — checking which test your child needs, sampling a paper, or working through full timed practice — the right starting point is here.
The Junior Secondary paper, sat while they are in Year 7. ACER sets the level by the year the student is currently in, not the year they are applying for.
For Year 7 entry, no — that uses the centrally run NSW Selective High School Placement Test. From Year 8 onwards each school runs its own assessment, and many do use HAST. Others use Edutest, so check each school before preparing.
Year 7 entry is a single large intake with a central process in NSW. Year 8 entry fills vacancies, so places are fewer, the number varies year to year, and you apply to each school individually.
Rarely as a HAST-tested pathway. Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia build their HAST entry around Year 7 and Year 9 or 10. Year 8 vacancies in those states are usually filled on school reports and application rather than a test.
HAST sittings are paper-based. Online practice builds the reasoning skills and timing efficiently, but it is worth completing some later papers on paper so the physical format is familiar.
There is no national date. Each school nominates its own sitting with ACER, though many NSW selective schools share a common date in August for entry the following year. Confirm with each school.
It depends entirely on vacancies at that school in that year, and can be very few. Applying to several schools matters more at Year 8 than at Year 7.
Almost never. Most selective schools state plainly that they do not admit new students in Year 12. Years 8 to 10 are where the realistic vacancies sit.
Repeatedly, under time, and with feedback they can act on. That is what turns a nervous first sitting into a familiar one.
