ASET Practice Tests and Past Papers: What Exists and How to Prepare in Year 6

There are no public ASET past papers. The WA Department of Education releases one full practice ASET, an answer key and an ASET Handbook, all free. Everything else on the market is written by commercial providers in the ASET style.

What official ASET material is available?

All are on the Department's ASET page. The practice test is aimed at Year 7 applicants, and practice results are not used in offers.

Use the official practice test as a real timed baseline, not as warm-up. It is the only paper written by the people who write the real test.

Why there are no past papers

The ASET is a secure test. Questions are not released after the sitting, so any "ASET past paper PDF" online is either the official practice test or a provider's own version.

What a good practice test should match

When you choose practice material, check it matches the real format:

There is a 10-minute break after the writing test. Wrong answers are not penalised.

A 4-month ASET preparation plan

This plan runs from November 2026 to the test on 6 March 2027.

Weeks 1-2: Baseline

• Sit the official practice ASET, timed, in the real order.
• Mark it and sort every wrong answer: didn't know, misread, ran out of time, or careless.

Weeks 3-10: Skills, untimed

• Spend most time on the weakest test.
• Abstract Reasoning: learn the common rules (rotation, reflection, counting, sequence) until they are spotted quickly.
• Reading: practise finding evidence in the passage before choosing an answer.
• Writing: one 25-minute response a week. Ideas and organisation first.

Weeks 11-16: Timed mocks

• One full timed mock every week or two, with the 10-minute break.
• Review every mock the same day.
• In the last two weeks, keep sessions short and keep sleep regular.

From Jon: Students naturally gravitate towards what they already like and are good at. Without a baseline, preparation drifts that way, and they spend less time on the weaknesses that need the most work.

How the writing test is marked

At least two trained markers score each response on:

• relevance to the prompt
• quality of ideas
• form and style
• organisation
• voice
• language

The ASET Handbook says spelling and grammar count for little, as long as the writing can be read. A clear structure and original ideas matter more than perfect sentences.

From Jon: Learning one structure for essays and one for creative writing beats learning lots of different text types. Once a student is unconsciously competent at one, they only need to learn what to add or take away to turn it into another, like turning a story into a letter or a script, or an essay into an opinion piece or a letter to the editor.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an ASET test WA PDF? Yes, the official practice ASET is free from the WA Department of Education. It is a practice paper, not a past paper.

How many practice tests should my child do? Quality beats quantity. The official practice test plus four to eight full mocks, each reviewed properly, is enough for most students.

When should my child start preparing? Ideally about six months before the March test, in Term 3 or 4 of Year 5. Starting in November still leaves about four months.

Does the practice test score predict the real TSS? No. Practice results are raw scores, while the real TSS is standardised against all applicants. Use practice scores to find weak areas, not to predict an offer.

Sources

• Academic Selective Entrance Test, WA Department of Education
• ASET Handbook (PDF)
• Key dates and applicant guidelines

Facts checked against official sources on 31 October 2026.