Exam board guide
The ACER Scholarship Test (CSTP) — a parent's complete guide
ACER runs the longest-established scholarship program in Australia. Its cooperative model lets a child sit once and apply to many schools — and its writing and reasoning focus is exactly where preparation makes the difference.
What is the ACER scholarship test?
The ACER Scholarship Tests are run by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), a not-for-profit research body. The flagship model is the Cooperative Scholarship Testing Program (CSTP), which has operated since 1962 and is used by a large number of independent (and some Catholic) schools each year.
ACER's stated philosophy is that the test measures underlying ability — reasoning, comprehension and higher-order thinking — rather than memorised curriculum content. Its public position is that short-term training is unlikely to transform performance, and that the best long-term preparation is wide reading and critical thinking. That matters for how families should prepare (more on this below).
A naming caution: some coaching sites describe "ACER" as four sections (Reading, Verbal Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Written Expression). That is an Edutest/AAS-style structure, not the official CSTP. Anchor your preparation on ACER's three-domain model, and confirm components with your school.
Test structure
ACER tests are offered at levels matched to entry year: Level 1 (sat in Year 6 for Year 7 entry), Level 2 (Year 8 → Year 9), Level 3 (Year 10 → Year 11), plus a paper-based Primary test for Year 4–6 entry. The secondary test is usually three sittings of about 40 minutes each (around two hours of testing):
| Section | Time (approx.) | Format | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written Expression | ~25–40 min | Extended response | One or two pieces depending on the school's configuration |
| Humanities | ~40 min | ~40–45 MCQ | Reading comprehension + interpreting written and visual source material; no prior knowledge needed |
| Mathematics (L1) + Science at L2/L3 | ~40 min | ~32–36 MCQ | Quantitative reasoning and problem solving; at higher levels about half becomes science-skills (interpreting experiments and data) |
The test is taken online or on paper depending on the school (the Primary test is paper). Calculators are banned, and ACER notes there are "no difficult calculations". Timings vary by level, school and year — confirm with your target school.
The cooperative model
With the CSTP, a family creates one account, applies to multiple participating schools (often ranked by preference), and the child sits once on the coordinated date. ACER then shares the results — including the preference ranking — with every school the family applied to. Schools that test on an alternative/independent date do not share results, so a family applying to one of those may need to sit separately.
What each section tests
Written Expression
A stimulus-driven task, typically narrative/creative and/or persuasive. ACER's published criteria are Thought & Content, Structure & Organisation, Expression & Style, and Mechanics. Staying on the prompt is critical, and quality beats quantity.
Humanities
Reading across multiple genres plus visual and source material — locating detail, inferring, interpreting tone and intent, and comparing across texts. It is multiple choice and needs no outside knowledge; in effect it blends verbal reasoning with critical reading.
Mathematics (and Science at higher levels)
Quantitative problem solving, number and pattern reasoning, data interpretation and multi-step worded problems, all without a calculator. At Levels 2 and 3 a science layer asks students to interpret experiments and data — scientific reasoning, not recalled facts.
Rather than a separate abstract-reasoning block, ACER embeds reasoning across the Humanities and Mathematics domains.
Scoring & results
- Multiple-choice sections are machine-marked; Written Expression is marked by trained ACER assessors.
- Schools receive detailed per-component reports and a norm-referenced ranking (percentile/standardised) against the cohort.
- There is no fixed pass mark — the test is competitive and relative, and each school awards a limited number of scholarships to its top performers.
- With the cooperative model, results feed every applied school; alternative-date schools report separately.
Registration, fees & dates
Under the cooperative program, a parent creates an account, adds the child, applies per school and level, uploads documents and pays a separate application fee per school for the single sitting. Fees vary — published application fees are commonly around the $160 mark, with surcharges for sitting at a non-ACER centre — and each school sets its own.
For entry the following year, applications usually open around September and close in late January or early February, with the cooperative test held in late February (one state, South Australia, sits on a separate earlier date). Alternative dates run from February into May. Students bring blue/black pens and pencils; calculators, rulers, watches, phones and books are not allowed.
Dates and fees change every year and by school — treat any specific figure as indicative and confirm with ACER or your target school.
How to prepare (and what wins)
The ACER test is deliberately hard and time-pressured — even strong students will not finish everything. ACER is right that cramming won't transform a result, but technique, familiarity and writing craft demonstrably reduce avoidable losses. The highest-leverage areas:
- Written Expression — the sharpest edge. It is human-marked against a known rubric and rewards planning, structure and staying on-prompt; most untrained candidates leak marks here. Write complete pieces to time and self-mark on the four criteria.
- Exam technique — pacing, elimination, sensible guessing, and familiarity with the on-screen interface if sitting online.
- Humanities / comprehension — coachable through inference technique and practice interpreting unfamiliar written and visual sources.
- Mathematics — calculator-free speed and accuracy on multi-step problems.
Start six to twelve months out, light and regular: read widely across genres, sit several full timed (and on-screen, if online) practice tests, and keep mental maths sharp without a calculator.
Scholarship preparation — free assessment
Find out where your child stands before the ACER 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: Australian Council for Educational Research — official scholarship pages acer.org/au/scholarships and the application portal scholarships.acer.org. Levels, timings, components and fees vary by 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, ACER. Always confirm the exact format, dates and fees with your target school or with ACER directly before relying on any detail here.