There is no national EduTest deadline, no single test date and no one portal. Every school runs its own cycle — its own application window, its own fee, its own sitting date — and you register, pay and apply separately for each one. This page explains that process, who is eligible, and how to find your dates.
Updated for 2027 and 2028 entry · Always confirm details with the school
EduTest is the testing provider, not the admissions body. Schools choose to use it, and each school sets its own application window, registration fee, sitting date and eligibility rules. There is no central EduTest calendar you can consult and no universal deadline for 2027 or 2028 entry.
What that means practically: your child does not "apply to EduTest". You go to the website of each school you are interested in, follow its registration link into EduTest's online system, create a parent account, add your child, and pay that school's fee. If you are applying to three schools, that is three registrations and three payments.
So the useful question is never "when is the EduTest?" — it is "what is this school's window, fee and sitting date?" Everything below is built around answering that, and the tracker further down gives you somewhere to keep the answers.
Broader than most families assume. EduTest is a testing service used by schools for entry and scholarship selection, and eligibility is set by the school rather than by EduTest.
There is no general academic prerequisite to register. If a school is testing for entry or scholarships at your child's level, and your child meets that school's stated criteria, they can register.
Applicants usually come from other schools — government, Catholic or independent. Your child does not need to already attend the school they are testing for.
Some schools test their own current students for scholarships at the next year level. Check whether internal applicants use the same process; often they do.
Entirely normal, and each application is separate. Whether one sitting can count for several schools depends on the transfer rules covered further down.
Schools across several states use EduTest. Sitting arrangements for families outside the school's area should be raised with the school's registrar directly.
If your child has a diagnosed condition or learning need, contact the school as early as possible. Any arrangements are approved through the school, not by contacting EduTest.
The one universal rule: eligibility is defined by the school, published on the school's own admissions or scholarships page, and can change year to year. Read that page before anything else — it also carries the registration link you will need.
Entry levels are named for the year your child would start, not the year they are in when they sit the test. This is the single most common source of confusion in the whole process.
| Entry level | Your child sits it in | For entry in | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 entry | Year 5 or Year 6 | The following year, or the year after | The largest scholarship and entry round at most schools |
| Year 8 entry | Year 6 or Year 7 | The following year | Mid-year and second-round entry, fewer places |
| Year 9 entry | Year 7 or Year 8 | The following year | A common second scholarship round at many schools |
| Year 10 entry | Year 8 or Year 9 | The following year | Senior-school entry and academic scholarships |
| Year 11 entry | Year 9 or Year 10 | The following year | Senior scholarships, often the most competitive per place |
Working backwards for 2027 and 2028 entry: for a Year 7 place in 2027, most schools test in 2026 while your child is in Year 5 or 6 — which means preparation starts in 2025 or 2026. For a 2028 Year 7 place, testing usually falls in 2027. Because schools set their own timing, always confirm the sitting year with the school rather than assuming the pattern holds.
Register at the level the school names, not the level you calculate. Schools occasionally test a year earlier than families expect, especially where places are scarce. If the school's page says "Year 9 entry, sat in Year 7", that is the level to register for even if it seems early.
Hundreds of independent and Catholic schools across Australia use EduTest for scholarship and entry selection, alongside some selective-entry programs. There is no public master list, and schools change providers between years.
Some schools use ACER or HAST instead, and a school that used EduTest last year may not this year. Never assume from a previous cycle.
That last step takes a minute and saves preparing for the wrong test entirely, which is a real and costly mistake.
We do not publish a school list, deliberately. Any list of "schools that use EduTest" goes stale within a cycle, and families who prepare from a stale list occasionally prepare for the wrong exam. The school's own admissions page is the only reliable source, and it is also where the registration link lives.
EduTest supplies the academic assessment. Whether that assessment leads to a scholarship, and on what terms, is entirely the school's decision — and the criteria vary widely.
The most common category, and the one EduTest results feed most directly. Usually a percentage remission of tuition fees, often reviewed annually against continued performance.
Financial need assessed separately, sometimes alongside an academic result. These usually require a separate application and financial documentation on a different deadline.
Academic results combined with music, sport, leadership or service. The EduTest result is one input among several, and interviews carry real weight.
Music, sport, art or drama, often with an audition or trial in addition to the academic test. Deadlines for these frequently differ from the general round.
Many schools run dedicated programs with their own criteria and timelines. Ask the registrar directly — these are not always prominent on the website.
Some schools test their own students for scholarships at the next level. Internal applicants often use the same registration process.
There is no published qualifying mark. EduTest results are standardised and reported as percentile ranks against everyone who sat that form, and each school sets its own threshold, which moves year to year with the applicant pool and the number of places. Any provider quoting "you need 90% for a scholarship" — including any figure you see quoted for 2027 or 2028 — is guessing. The honest answer is that a strong result gets your child considered, and the school decides from there.
What you can control: registering for the right level on time, sitting the test in reasonable condition, and having rehearsed the format so nothing on the day is new. Our test format guide covers the five sections, and the mock test guide covers rehearsing the whole paper.
Registration happens in EduTest's online system, but you get there through the school. You must submit a registration for each school you want your child considered by.
Find the school's admissions or scholarships page and read the application process and eligibility details. This page carries the closing date, the fee and the registration link.
School's site firstThe link takes you into EduTest's registration system for that school specifically. Do not try to register centrally — registrations are tied to the school whose link you used.
One link per schoolFirst-time users create a parent account, then use the Add new student button to enter your child's details. Returning users log in with the same email and password and select the student already on the account.
One account, many studentsChoose the entry level the school has named and the sitting it offers. Check this twice — entry level refers to the year your child would start, not the year they are in now.
Check the level twicePayment is by Visa or Mastercard, and prices shown include GST. Your registration is not valid until payment has been received — and it must be received by the school's application deadline.
Not valid until paidApplying to three schools means three separate registrations and three separate payments, one for each. There is no combined application and no bulk discount.
Separate every timeKeep one parent account. Using the same login for every school keeps your child's details in one place and makes each subsequent registration faster. Write the email address and password down somewhere you will still have them in eighteen months — families reapplying at the next entry level routinely cannot find them.
The deadline is for payment, not for starting the form. A half-finished registration on the closing date is not a registration. Complete and pay at least several days before the school's deadline, and keep the confirmation email.
There is no standard fee. Each school sets its own, and you pay it separately for each school you apply to.
The registration fee is the school's, not EduTest's, so it varies between schools and between entry levels at the same school. The current figure is on the school's admissions page.
Amounts shown at registration are inclusive of GST at 10%, so the figure you see is the figure you pay.
Three schools means three payments. There is no combined checkout, no family rate and no discount for applying to several.
Payment is by credit card, and only Visa and Mastercard are accepted. Arrange this before the deadline rather than on the day.
Payment must be received by the school's application deadline for the registration to stand. A submitted but unpaid form does not hold a place.
Because fees are per school, a five-school shortlist costs five fees. Worth deciding early how many schools are genuinely worth applying to.
We do not publish fee amounts here on purpose. They differ by school and change between cycles, and a figure quoted on a guide page is exactly the sort of thing families discover is out of date at the worst moment. Take the number from the school's page on the day you register, and add the fees up across the whole shortlist before you commit to it.
The EduTest registration is usually only part of the application. Schools commonly ask for several other things, often on different deadlines — and a missed one can end an application that the test result would have carried.
| Commonly required | What it involves | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| School's own application form | Separate from the EduTest registration, submitted to the school directly | Families who register for the test and never complete the school's form |
| Recent school reports | Usually the last two to four semester reports | Reports that are not yet issued at the closing date — ask the school what to do |
| NAPLAN results | Most recent results, where they exist for that year level | Locating them late; request them from your child's school early |
| References | A reference from the current school, sometimes a character reference | Referees need weeks of notice, not days |
| Birth certificate or ID | Proof of identity and date of birth; sometimes visa or residency documents | Certified copies where required, which takes time to arrange |
| Interview | Student and often parents, usually after the test for shortlisted applicants | Scheduled at short notice; keep the period after the sitting flexible |
| Portfolio or audition | For music, sport, art or all-rounder scholarships | Separate and often earlier deadlines than the academic round |
| Financial documentation | For means-tested bursaries | A different application entirely, with its own closing date |
Make one list per school, not one list overall. Requirements differ enough between schools that a single combined checklist reliably drops something. Take each school's page, list what it asks for and when, and work through them school by school.
The honest position, and the most useful thing on this page: there is no published national EduTest calendar for 2027 or 2028, and there will not be one.
Anyone publishing "the 2027 EduTest date" is inventing it. Each school sets its own sitting date within EduTest's testing windows, and most schools confirm the following year's date somewhere between six and twelve months ahead. Dates for a 2027 entry round are typically confirmed during 2026; dates for 2028 entry during 2027. Until your school publishes its cycle, the date genuinely does not exist yet.
EduTest runs sittings across the school year rather than on one national day. In practice that means testing windows fall through each term, with schools choosing a date inside them. The result-transfer rules are organised around one sitting in Terms 1 and 2, and one sitting in Terms 3 and 4 — which is a useful signal of how sittings are grouped across the year.
| Roughly when | What tends to happen | What you should be doing |
|---|---|---|
| Terms 1–2 | Scholarship rounds for entry the following year at many schools; some second-round testing | Register early in the window; preparation should already be well under way |
| Terms 3–4 | Further sittings, later rounds and some entry testing for the year after next | Useful for families who missed an earlier round or added a school late |
| Any term | Individual schools schedule within the available windows to suit their own admissions calendar | Check each school's page every few months until its date is published |
How to actually get your dates: make a shortlist of schools now, find the admissions or scholarships page for each, and note whether the next cycle is published. Where it is not, most schools will tell you the expected month if you email the registrar. Put a reminder in your calendar to re-check every school quarterly until each date is confirmed.
Plan on a six to twelve month runway. Most families begin preparing six to twelve months before the sitting, and the content gaps take the longest to close. Because dates are confirmed inside that window, the practical approach is to start preparing on the expected month and adjust when the date is announced — rather than waiting for a confirmed date and having only weeks left.
This is the part families most often get wrong, and it can cost either an unnecessary second sitting or a missed application.
EduTest reports results to the school running the sitting. The school decides what, if anything, to pass on to families — there is no universal parent portal for scholarship results.
Many schools communicate only an outcome: an interview invitation, an offer, or an unsuccessful notification. Do not assume you will see a score breakdown, and do not read silence as a result.
A result can transfer to another school only where both schools have opted to allow transfers. Where they have, one sitting can be considered by more than one school within the relevant window.
Some schools state plainly that there is no sharing or transferring of results at all. Where you see that, a separate sitting is required.
Both the school that ran the sitting and the school receiving the result must allow it. One school permitting transfers is not enough.
Confirm with bothA result can move forward to a later school within the applicable window, but it cannot be sent back to a school whose process has already passed. Sequence your applications with that in mind.
Forward onlyTransfers operate around one sitting in Terms 1 and 2 and one in Terms 3 and 4. A result from one grouping does not automatically carry into the next.
Ask before you rely on itNever assume a transfer will happen. Ask each school two direct questions before you register: do you accept a transferred EduTest result, and do you release results to other schools? Get the answer in writing from the registrar. Families who assume a transfer and are wrong either pay for an extra sitting at short notice or miss a closing date altogether — and by then the result cannot be sent backwards.
Registering separately is still required. Even where a result transfers, you must submit a registration for each school you want your child considered by. A transferred result does not create an application — it only saves the sitting.
Because dates are confirmed late, the timeline below runs backwards from the sitting rather than forwards from a calendar. Anchor it to the month the school expects to test.
| When | Admin | Preparation |
|---|---|---|
| 12–18 months before | Build the shortlist. Confirm which provider each school uses for your child's entry level — EduTest, ACER or HAST. | Sit one full timed paper as a baseline. No intensive work yet. |
| 9–12 months before | Check each school's page for the next cycle. Email registrars where dates are unpublished and ask for the expected month. | Begin content work on the gaps the baseline exposed. |
| 6–9 months before | Note the fee and requirements for each school. Order documents that take time — certified copies, references, NAPLAN results. | Regular practice across all five sections; monthly full mock. |
| 3–6 months before | Register and pay as each window opens. Ask both transfer questions before deciding how many sittings you need. | Fortnightly mocks, timed sections, error log review. |
| 1–3 months before | Confirm the sitting date, venue and what may be brought. Complete each school's own application form. | Weekly full mocks. Pacing and stamina rather than new content. |
| Final month | Confirm logistics with the school. Keep the period after the sitting free for possible interviews. | Taper: error log only in the last week, no full mocks in the final 48 hours. |
| After the sitting | Wait for the school's communication. Prepare for interview if shortlisted. | Pause. If another school's round follows, resume two weeks out. |
For a 2027 entry round, most of this falls across 2026. For 2028 entry, across 2027. If your child is applying to schools with sittings in different terms, run the timeline separately for each — the earliest sitting sets your real deadline, not the average one.
You cannot bring a sitting date forward, but you can arrive having rehearsed all five sections under a real clock. Start with a free timed paper.
The admin questions families ask us most often about 2027 and 2028 entry.
Start on the website of the school you are applying to, not on EduTest's. The school's admissions or scholarships page carries the registration link, which takes you into EduTest's online system for that school. Create a parent account, use the Add new student button to enter your child's details, choose the entry level and sitting, and pay the school's registration fee. To be considered by a school, you must submit a registration for that school.
There is no national EduTest date. Every school sets its own sitting date within EduTest's testing windows, and most confirm the following year's cycle six to twelve months ahead — so 2027 dates are generally confirmed during 2026, and 2028 dates during 2027. Any site publishing a specific national 2027 or 2028 date is guessing. Check each school's admissions page, and email the registrar for the expected month if it is not yet published.
There is no standard fee — each school sets its own, and prices shown are inclusive of GST. You pay separately for each school, so three registrations means three payments. Payment is by Visa or Mastercard only, and it must be received by the school's application deadline for the registration to be valid.
Yes. Registration is per school, with its own link, its own fee and its own payment. There is no combined application and no national portal. Even where a result can be transferred between schools, you still need a registration lodged with each school you want your child considered by.
Sometimes. Results transfer only where the schools involved have opted to allow it, and results cannot be back transferred to a school whose process has already passed. Some schools state that there is no sharing or transferring of results at all. Ask each school directly, before registering, whether it accepts transferred results and whether it releases them.
Hundreds of independent and Catholic schools across Australia, along with some selective programs such as the Queensland Academies. There is no public master list, and schools change providers between cycles — some use ACER or HAST instead. Confirm on the school's own admissions page, or ask the registrar which provider is used for your child's entry level.
Register at the entry level the school names — the year your child would start, not the year they are in when they sit. Year 7 entry is usually sat in Year 5 or 6, Year 9 entry in Year 7 or 8, and so on. Some schools test a year earlier than families expect, so follow the school's wording rather than your own calculation.
Eligibility is set by the school, not by EduTest, and there is no general academic prerequisite to register. Applicants usually come from other schools, and many schools also test their own current students for scholarships at the next level. The school's admissions page states the criteria for that round.
Commonly the school's own application form, recent school reports, NAPLAN results, references, proof of identity, and an interview for shortlisted applicants. Specialist scholarships may add an audition or portfolio, and means-tested bursaries usually require a separate application with financial documentation. These often sit on different deadlines from the test registration.
There is no published qualifying mark. Results are standardised and reported as percentile ranks against everyone who sat the same form, and each school sets its own threshold, which shifts year to year with the applicant pool and the number of places available. Any specific figure quoted for 2027 or 2028 is a guess.
EduTest reports results to the school running the sitting, and the school decides what to pass on and when. There is no universal parent portal for scholarship results, and many schools communicate only an outcome rather than a score. Ask the school when it expects to notify families, and keep the following weeks flexible in case of an interview.
Six to twelve months is the usual runway, and content gaps take the longest to close. Because sitting dates are often confirmed inside that window, the practical approach is to 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.
Most families start six to twelve months out, and most sitting dates are only confirmed inside that window. Begin on the expected month, and find out today where your child actually stands.
