A number of selective entry high schools in New South Wales and Victoria accept EduTest results for Year 8 to Year 11 entry — which means one sitting can open several doors. This guide covers who is eligible, which schools take transferred results, the exact test format, and what the 2027 and 2028 timelines look like.
Updated for 2027 and 2028 entry · Always confirm details with the school
EduTest is an independent Australian assessment company that writes and administers entrance and scholarship tests. It is one of the providers used for selective entry and scholarship selection across the country — and several selective entry high schools in NSW and Victoria accept EduTest results for Year 8 to Year 11 entry.
The tests are built to measure both what a student has been taught and how they reason with unfamiliar material. That combination is deliberate: it identifies capable students who have not necessarily had the strongest schooling to date, as well as those who have.
For 2027 and 2028 entry, the process runs the same way it always has — but the dates, fees and conditions are set by each school, not by EduTest, and they are published on the school's own registration page. That is where every application starts.
The rule is simple, and the mistake families make with it is nearly always the same one.
Your child must currently be in the year below the entry year they are applying for. A student sitting for Year 9 entry is in Year 8 at the time of the test; a student sitting for Year 11 entry is in Year 10.
So for 2027 entry, the sitting generally falls during 2026. For 2028 entry, during 2027. Work backwards from the entry year, not forwards from today.
Every selective school runs its own result transfer process and its own special conditions. Read those on the school's registration page before you submit an EduTest registration for that school — not after.
Conditions differ on eligibility, residency, sitting arrangements and what else must be submitted. A registration lodged against the wrong assumption is difficult to unwind once a testing date has passed.
Applying to more than one school is normal and expected. Where the schools take part in the transfer process, your child sits once — at the school with the earliest testing date — and the result is sent on to the others. You still need to register separately with each school; the transfer saves the sitting, not the application. Full detail in our EduTest registration guide for 2027–2028.
These NSW and Victorian selective entry high schools have accepted EduTest results for Year 8 to Year 11 entry. Confirm current arrangements on each school's own page before you register for 2027 or 2028 — participation and conditions can change between cycles.
Treat this list as a starting point, not a guarantee. Schools review their assessment arrangements between cycles, and a school that accepted EduTest results for one entry year may use a different provider or a different process for another. Before registering for 2027 or 2028 entry, open the school's admissions page and confirm three things: that EduTest is the provider for that entry level, that the school takes part in result transfer, and what its closing date is.
Beyond these nine, EduTest is used far more widely. Hundreds of independent and Catholic schools across Australia use it for scholarship and entry selection, and some selective programs such as the Queensland Academies use it for entrance testing. The schools above are the selective entry high schools in NSW and Victoria specifically operating a result transfer arrangement for Years 8 to 11.
Five sections, sat in one continuous sitting. Four are multiple choice; the fifth is written. Every applicant sits the complete assessment.
| Test type | Section | Time | Questions (approx.) | Question type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ability | Verbal Reasoning | 30 minutes | 60 | Multiple choice |
| Ability | Numerical Reasoning | 30 minutes | 50 | Multiple choice |
| Achievement | Reading Comprehension | 30 minutes | 50 | Multiple choice |
| Achievement | Mathematics | 30 minutes | 60 | Multiple choice |
| Achievement | Written Expression | 15 minutes per task, no planning time | 1–2 prompts | Open response |
Important correction on the writing section. Written Expression runs to 15 minutes with no separate planning or reading time — your child reads the prompt, plans and writes inside the same fifteen minutes. Where a school sets two tasks, the total is longer, but the per-task limit is the number that matters for preparation. Advice about "spending five minutes planning" comes from 30- and 40-minute school writing tasks and does not transfer. Our EduTest Writing guide sets out a minute-by-minute plan built for the real limit.
Question counts are approximate and the mix varies. EduTest does not publish a fixed question count, and the number differs by entry level and test form. Prepare to a pace rather than a count — count the questions in the first ten seconds, divide by the minutes, and work to that. No calculators, rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, phones, smart watches or fitness trackers are permitted.
Understanding which is which tells you where preparation time actually converts into marks — and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
Designed to measure how your child reasons, analyses and solves problems without relying on previously taught content. The material is deliberately light on curriculum so that students who have covered more of the syllabus are not advantaged.
How it improves: through exposure to question shapes and rule families, not through revision. Slower to move, but very responsive to volume of short practice.
These assess what your child has actually been taught. If a topic has not been met at school, it cannot be reasoned out from first principles under time pressure.
How it improves: by closing content gaps and building speed. The fastest-moving part of an EduTest score.
What to do with this: audit the achievement sections first, because gaps there are teachable in weeks. Then build the reasoning sections through short, frequent practice over months. A family that spends every session revising maths and never sees a number sequence will be surprised on the day — and the reverse is equally true.
Synonyms, antonyms, analogies, classification and logic, with worked examples.
See the guideRule families, data interpretation and 26 original sample questions.
See the guideThe transfer arrangement is what makes applying to several selective schools practical. The rules are firm and worth knowing before you register anywhere.
Each school has its own registration link, its own fee and its own closing date. A transferred result does not create an application — it only saves the sitting.
One registration eachWhere several schools are registered within one testing cycle, the student sits at the school with the earliest testing date. That date is your real deadline — plan preparation to peak for it, not for an average.
Earliest date winsEduTest sends the result to each school once that school's own testing date has passed, and each school considers the application independently of the others.
Independent decisionsA result cannot be sent to a school whose testing date has already gone, and cannot carry from a sitting in one calendar year to a school testing in the next. Sequence your applications accordingly.
Forward, same year onlyYou cannot choose to re-sit instead of transferring. Where the schools involved take part in the transfer process, it applies to all applicants and no exceptions are made. If your child sat once in that cycle, that result is the one every participating school will consider. Some schools opt out entirely and state that there is no sharing or transferring of results in either direction — check each school's position before you register.
The practical consequence for 2027 and 2028: build your shortlist early, find the earliest testing date among them, and treat that as the exam date. Everything else — preparation schedule, mock tests, taper — works backwards from it.
There is no national EduTest calendar. Each school sets its own sitting date, and most confirm the next cycle six to twelve months ahead — so the timeline below runs backwards from the sitting rather than forwards from a date.
| Entry year | Test generally sat in | Your child is in | Preparation should start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 8 entry, 2027 | During 2026 | Year 6 at the time of the test | Late 2025 to early 2026 |
| Year 9 entry, 2027 | During 2026 | Year 7 | Late 2025 to early 2026 |
| Year 10 entry, 2027 | During 2026 | Year 8 | Late 2025 to early 2026 |
| Year 11 entry, 2027 | During 2026 | Year 9 | Late 2025 to early 2026 |
| Year 8 entry, 2028 | During 2027 | Year 6 | Late 2026 to early 2027 |
| Year 9 entry, 2028 | During 2027 | Year 7 | Late 2026 to early 2027 |
| Year 10 entry, 2028 | During 2027 | Year 8 | Late 2026 to early 2027 |
| Year 11 entry, 2028 | During 2027 | Year 9 | Late 2026 to early 2027 |
No specific 2027 or 2028 test dates exist yet in most cases, and anyone publishing one is guessing. Schools confirm their sitting dates inside the six-to-twelve-month window before the test. Check each shortlisted school's admissions page every few months, and email the registrar for the expected month where it is not yet published — they will usually tell you.
Confirm which provider each school uses at your child's entry level, and whether it takes transferred results. Sit one full timed paper as a baseline.
Confirm and measureWork on the achievement sections the baseline exposed, and start short daily reasoning practice. Order documents that take time — reports, references, certified copies.
Content firstRegister and pay as each window opens. Move to fortnightly full mocks and timed sections; the target shifts from knowing to producing under a clock.
Register, then rehearseWeekly full mocks with all five sections back to back. Pacing and stamina, not new content. Confirm the sitting details with the school.
Full papersError log only, no full mocks in the last 48 hours, early nights, logistics settled. Keep the weeks after the sitting flexible for interviews.
Rest and arrive readyIf your child is applying to schools with sittings in different terms, run this timeline against the earliest one. Under the transfer arrangement that is the sitting that counts, and the later dates take care of themselves.
Selective entry places are decided by narrow margins between capable students. These five things move a result more reliably than anything else.
Five sections, thirty minutes each, no calculator, writing under a tight limit with no planning time. Nothing on the day should be structurally new — surprise costs more than any single topic gap.
Sit one full timed paper and sort every error into four buckets: never learned it, learned but forgot, knew it but too slow, careless slip. The biggest bucket decides what the next month is for.
Achievement gaps close in weeks; reasoning improves over months. Front-load content work, and run short reasoning practice daily from the start rather than saving it.
Untimed practice measures knowledge you already knew your child had. The constraint is the test. Build up in stages — generous limit, then target pace, then full sections, then full papers.
Question shapes differ between providers. Practising ACER-style reasoning for an EduTest sitting builds general skill but not familiarity, and familiarity is what buys seconds on the day.
It is the only section where how your child writes is visible, it comes last when concentration is lowest, and it runs to fifteen minutes. An unfinished piece costs more than a weak paragraph.
All five sections, a live clock and worked solutions — enough to produce the baseline that everything else on this page works backwards from.
The questions families ask us most often about 2027 and 2028 entry.
Several selective entry high schools in NSW and Victoria have accepted EduTest results for Year 8 to Year 11 entry, including Baulkham Hills, North Sydney Girls, North Sydney Boys, Sydney Girls and James Ruse in NSW, and Nossal, Suzanne Cory, The Mac.Robertson Girls and Melbourne High School in Victoria. Confirm current arrangements on each school's own admissions page before registering for 2027 or 2028, as participation and conditions change between cycles.
Students currently in the year below the entry year they are applying for. For 2027 entry the sitting generally falls during 2026; for 2028 entry, during 2027. Each selective school also sets its own special conditions, published on its registration page, and those should be read before you submit any EduTest registration.
There is no national date. Each school sets its own sitting date and most confirm the next cycle six to twelve months ahead, so 2027 dates are generally confirmed during 2026 and 2028 dates during 2027. Check each shortlisted school's page every few months and ask the registrar for the expected month if it is not yet published.
Yes, where the schools take part in the result transfer process. Your child sits once at the school with the earliest testing date, and EduTest sends the result to each other school after that school's own testing date has passed. You still need to register and pay separately with every school — the transfer saves the sitting, not the application.
Five sections in one sitting: Verbal Reasoning (30 min, approx. 60 questions), Numerical Reasoning (30 min, approx. 50), Reading Comprehension (30 min, approx. 50), Mathematics (30 min, approx. 60) and Written Expression. The first four are multiple choice; Written Expression is an open response running to 15 minutes per task with no separate planning or reading time.
15 minutes per writing task, with no separate planning or reading time — your child reads the prompt, plans and writes inside the same fifteen minutes. Where a school sets two tasks the total is longer, but the per-task limit is what preparation should be built around. General advice about spending five minutes planning comes from much longer school writing tasks and does not apply here.
The ability tests — Verbal and Numerical Reasoning — measure how a student reasons and solves problems without relying on taught content. The achievement tests — Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and Written Expression — measure what has actually been taught. Achievement gaps close in weeks; reasoning improves over months, which is why both need different preparation approaches.
No. Calculators, rulers, dictionaries, working-out paper, mobile phones, smart watches and fitness trackers are all prohibited. This makes mental arithmetic speed a genuine exam skill rather than a nicety, particularly in Mathematics and Numerical Reasoning.
Six to twelve months before the sitting for most families, with a twelve-week intensive phase at the end. Because sitting dates are often confirmed inside that window, start on the school's expected month and adjust when the date is announced rather than waiting for confirmation and finding you have weeks rather than months.
Not from EduTest, which sends results to the school rather than to parents. Each school decides whether and when to release a report, and most communicate an outcome instead. Selection timelines differ by school and commonly run three to eight weeks from the testing date. Our EduTest results guide covers scores, bands and ranking in detail.
Which makes the preparation behind that single sitting worth doing properly. Start with a free timed paper across all five sections and find out where your child actually stands for 2027 or 2028.
