Exam board guide
The AAS Scholarship Test — a parent's complete guide
AAS (Academic Assessment Services) is one of the three exam boards Australian independent schools use to award scholarships. Its signature feature is a single, fast, integrated reasoning section — and that is exactly where preparation pays off most.
What is AAS?
Academic Assessment Services (AAS) writes and administers timed scholarship and entrance tests for independent schools. Like ACER and Edutest, AAS supplies the testing instrument, marks it and ranks the candidates — but the school remains the sole decision-maker on who receives a scholarship.
AAS is chosen by a particular set of schools and is especially common among girls' schools and Anglican/independent grammar schools, with strong clusters in NSW, WA, VIC and QLD. Because each school chooses its own board — and can change between years — the single most important step for any family is to confirm which exam your target school actually uses before preparing.
Test structure
AAS tests are set for entry into roughly Years 3–11, calibrated to the year the child is applying to enter and typically pitched one to two years above their current level. The most competitive sitting is for Year 7 entry. A typical secondary-level paper has four sections:
| Section | Approx. questions | Approx. time | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning & Problem Solving verbal + numerical + abstract, combined | ~60 | 40–45 min | Multiple choice |
| Reading Comprehension | ~45 | 40–45 min | Multiple choice |
| Mathematics achievement + reasoning | ~45 | 40–45 min | Multiple choice |
| Written Expression | 1 prompt | 25–30 min | Long-form response |
Total working time is commonly around 2–3 hours, usually in two sittings with a short recess. Question counts and timings are indicative and vary by year level and year — AAS publishes session timings but not exact per-section counts. No calculators are permitted; bring blue or black pens. Always confirm the format with your target school.
What each section tests
Reasoning & Problem Solving (the AAS signature)
This integrated block mixes verbal reasoning (analogies, codes, odd-one-out, deduction, sequences), numerical reasoning (number series, quantitative logic, missing numbers) and abstract/spatial reasoning (image series, matrix completion, rotations and reflections). At roughly 40–45 seconds a question, it rewards fast pattern recognition and a rehearsed toolkit. It is the section most decoupled from school curriculum and rarely taught in class — which makes it the biggest, most trainable opportunity.
Reading Comprehension
Literal recall, inference and interpretation, and critical analysis across fiction and non-fiction, at speed. Question types include finding a detail, word-in-context, author purpose and tone, drawing a conclusion that isn't stated, and comparing across passages.
Mathematics
Number, measurement, space and geometry, data and probability, patterns and algebra — roughly half curriculum achievement and half reasoning, pitched above level. The discriminator is the top-end, multi-step problems, not routine computation.
Written Expression
One response to a stimulus prompt. The genre (narrative, persuasive, descriptive, expository or creative) is set by the prompt and not known in advance. It is the only subjectively marked section, the highest-variance one, and the place where coaching the process moves the needle most.
Scoring & results
- Multiple-choice sections are auto-scored with no penalty for wrong answers — so students should always guess rather than leave blanks. Written Expression is marked by an assessor.
- AAS reports raw scores per skill area, stanines (1–9), composite rankings and skill breakdowns through its online system, and ranks candidates within the cohort.
- Results typically reach the school around ten days after the last test date. When (or whether) families hear is the school's decision — some never release scores.
- There is no published universal pass mark. Each school sets its own threshold and weighting, so the bar differs from school to school.
Registration, fees & dates
Families register per school through the AAS parent portal (often school-branded). Some Perth girls' schools coordinate so a single sitting can cover several schools. The school sets the fee — there is no single fixed AAS price — and AAS also sells official practice tests separately.
Schools set their own dates, but there is a strong cluster of sittings in February for the following year's entry, with applications usually closing in early February. Year 7 testing typically happens 12–18 months before entry.
Dates and fees shift every year and by school — treat any specific date as indicative and confirm directly with your target school.
How to prepare (and what wins)
The AAS test is pitched above grade level, speeded, and weighted toward higher-order reasoning over recall. Marks are won on the hard maths/reasoning items and on strong, structured writing — and lost to time pressure, careless errors and rushed writing. In order of coaching return:
- Reasoning & abstract — rarely taught at school, so it offers the biggest uplift. Drill by archetype (series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, deduction) until recognition is instant.
- Written Expression — the process is highly coachable: decode the prompt, plan in two minutes, write to a structure, proofread. One timed piece a week, marked to criteria, is the best single habit.
- Mathematics — build reasoning and no-calculator speed on multi-step problems.
- Reading — the slowest to move; grow it through wide reading over months, not weeks.
Cross-cutting habits that matter for every section: guess everything (no penalty), pace and triage, and build stamina with full timed mocks.
Scholarship preparation — free assessment
Find out where your child stands before the AAS exam
Book an exam-style assessment. Your child sits a scholarship-format task, we mark it against the real criteria, and you get detailed feedback and a level — so you know their strengths and weak spots before the real test.
Sources
This guide is original explanatory content summarised in our own words from public information; no copyrighted exam questions are reproduced. Primary source: Academic Assessment Services — official site academicassessment.com.au (test information, practice tests and parent portal). Section structure, timings and fees vary by year level, school and year, and were last reviewed in June 2026. Ace Achievers is an independent tutoring provider and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Academic Assessment Services. Always confirm the exact format, dates and fees with your target school or with AAS directly before relying on any detail here.