ACER Scholarship Test (Year 7 Entry): Format & Samples

An academic scholarship can change what school is possible for a family — and for Year 7 entry, the most common gateway is the ACER Scholarship Test. It's used by hundreds of independent schools, and it asks for a lot in one sitting: more than 70 multiple-choice questions across two papers, plus two separate pieces of writing. Here's how it works, using ACER's own published descriptions, plus a few free sample questions to try.

What is the ACER Scholarship Test?

The ACER Scholarship Test is the academic scholarship exam run by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). ACER says approximately 250 independent schools across the country use it to award academic scholarships for Year 7 entry — the most common sitting for Year 6 students. The value of each scholarship is set by the school, not by ACER, and can cover part or all of tuition — which is why the test attracts serious competition.

Test structure

Year 7 entry is ACER's Level 1 sitting, and it has three components:

Component	Questions	Format
Humanities / Reading	40–45	Multiple-choice, four options A–D, grouped in units of several questions per text
Mathematics	32–36	Multiple-choice, four options A–D, no calculator
Written Expression	2 topics	Two stimulus-based pieces, set as two separate tests

Those counts come from ACER's own component descriptions. Timing is thinner: ACER publishes no duration for either multiple-choice component, so any Humanities or Mathematics time you see quoted online — including in preparation materials, ours included — is an estimate. For Written Expression, ACER's example-questions booklet says "in the 25 minutes allowed you will have time to plan and edit your writing", without saying whether that covers one topic or both. The school, or the practice materials in your ACER parent account, is the place to confirm any of it.

What each component covers

• Humanities / Reading — ACER calls it Comprehension and Interpretation: questions on written and visual material drawn from areas such as English, Art, History, Geography and Social Studies, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, diagrams and maps. No subject knowledge is assumed — everything needed is on the paper. The defining structural feature is that questions come in units, with several questions sharing one text or image.
• Mathematics — ACER describes this as measuring mathematical ability rather than school achievement, with material drawn from a wide variety of sources. Expect quantitative problem-solving: interpreting information, picking out what matters, spotting relationships, and multi-step reasoning rather than rote calculation. At Level 1 every question is mathematics (science only enters at the higher levels).
• Written Expression — two topics, presented as two separate tests so that students use different styles of writing. Each gives a stimulus — a picture, a statement, or both — and the student can tell a story, describe a scene, explain something, or argue a point of view. Markers consider thought and content, structure and organisation, and expression, style and mechanics.

One rule is worth more than any preparation tip: ACER states that the stimulus material must be the basis of your writing, and that a student will be penalised if they seem to be presenting a piece that is not developed from the stimulus. A polished, pre-learned story dropped onto the page is the single most expensive mistake in this component.

Try a sample maths question or two

Here are two free ACER-style Mathematics questions — the kind of multi-step reasoning the scholarship test favours. Tap a choice to check it and read the worked solution.

Notice how neither is "just calculation" — the arithmetic hides inside a chain of reasoning. That's the scholarship-test signature, and it's the skill worth building. For a longer set with the same tap-to-check format, see our free ACER Scholarship practice questions.

Which schools use it, and how selection works

Hundreds of schools across every state use the ACER Scholarship Test, including many well-known independent schools. Each sets its own scholarship criteria and may weight the sections differently. Most combine the ACER result with a school interview and current school reports — but the test score is typically the first filter, and students usually need to reach a threshold to be invited to interview. Scholarships range from full (100% of tuition) to partial (commonly 25%, 50% or 75%), with bursaries sometimes available for families demonstrating financial need.

If the schools on your list are all in the cooperative program, your child sits once and the result goes to each of them — up to six. If any of them runs its own alternative date, that school needs its own sitting, which is how some families end up sitting more than once in a season.

How to prepare

• Read widely. The Humanities section draws on diverse texts, so regular reading across fiction, non-fiction and media builds the comprehension it tests.
• Sharpen mental maths. With no calculator, fluency with number operations and estimation matters — but reasoning matters more, so practise multi-step problems.
• Write from a stimulus, twice. Give your child a picture or a statement and ask them to build the piece out of it — that is what ACER rewards, and rehearsed pieces are what it penalises. Two topics are set, so two shorter pieces in a session is better practice than one long one.
• Practise pacing. Around 40–45 comprehension questions and 32–36 maths questions is a long stretch of concentration for an eleven-year-old. Moving on from a hard question and coming back is the habit that protects the score.
• Read in units. Because several Humanities questions share one text, practising with the passage attached — rather than one-off questions — is closer to the real thing.

You can try more free ACER-style sample questions to see the format across sections. And if your target schools use ACER's other exam for general entry, our guide to HAST explains the difference.

When is it held?

Schools sit on one of two programs. Cooperative schools all test on a single date ACER sets for a Saturday in February — for 2028 entry that is Saturday 27 February 2027 (Qld, NSW, NT, WA and Victorian schools), with applications opening 21 September 2026 and closing 7 February 2027. South Australian schools in the ACEP program test on Saturday 6 February 2027. Schools on the alternative date program pick their own date in the school year — most Victorian schools do — and report the result to that school only. Registrations close well before the sitting and late applications are not accepted, so check each school's page early, and see the official ACER Scholarships page for dates and official practice materials.