Brisbane State High School Academic Selective Entry
Brisbane State High selects Academic Selective Entry students on an order of merit, using the ACER Higher Ability Selection Test as the primary criterion. A non-refundable processing fee of $420.00 applies to every Academic Selective Entry application, and the school offers no alternative test dates under any circumstances.
That last point is not boilerplate. If your child is unwell on the morning of the test, there is no reschedule. Lock the date in the family calendar the day you apply.
What are the entry pathways?
Three, and they work differently. Year 5 gives conditional entry, Year 6 gives direct entry, and Years 8 to 11 is a separate, very limited stream.
Places for Year 5 applicants are limited, and the school notes that students who are unsuccessful in Year 5 have a further opportunity to sit the Year 6 test the following year. Year 6 is the last chance for Year 7 entry.
What are the BSHS test dates?
The school publishes them well ahead and does not move them. For the most recent cycles:
- Year 7, 2027 (Year 6 cohort): Monday 27 April 2026
- Year 7, 2028 (Year 5 cohort): Wednesday 29 July 2026
Both cycles have closed as of September 2026, and applications received after the closing date are not considered. The school states in bold on its own enrolment page that these are the only dates on which students can undertake the Academic Tests.
If your child is currently in Year 4, the Year 5 sitting is roughly twelve months away and the Year 6 sitting roughly twenty-one months away. Check the school's published enrolment timelines for the current round before planning around anything here.
How much does it cost to apply?
$420.00, non-refundable and non-transferable, paid through the Qkr! app. Evidence of payment must be submitted with the online application, and incomplete applications are not accepted.
Two things soften that figure. The fee is paid once per year even if you apply under multiple Selective Entry categories, so a family applying under Academic and Sporting in the same year pays $420 once. And the School Council has established Selective Entry Equity Bursaries for families facing genuine hardship, which can cover or reduce the fee. Bursary applications have their own closing dates, earlier than you might expect, so contact the enrolment office early if this applies.
When adding your child in Qkr!, enter their current year level, not the year level they are applying for. That trips people up.
What does BSHS assess?
Test results are the primary selection criterion, and students are ranked in an order of merit. Beyond the test, the school requires continued excellence in academic performance, behaviour and effort to remain eligible.
For a Year 6 application you supply school reports for the previous three semesters, the Year 5 NAPLAN report, an Academic Selective Entry Student Summary and a completed Photo Identification Form. The photo ID form must be presented by the student at the test venue on the day.
For a Year 5 application the document set is similar but staggered, with Year 4 reports at application and Year 5 Semester 1 reports and NAPLAN emailed to the enrolments address as they become available.
What test does Brisbane State High use?
The ACER Higher Ability Selection Test. Year 6 candidates sit HAST at the Junior Secondary level; Year 5 candidates sit HAST-P, the Primary level.
The two are not the same paper and the timings differ. The school publishes HAST-P as Reading Comprehension 35 minutes, Mathematical Reasoning 35 minutes and Written Expression 30 minutes, all multiple choice except the writing. HAST Junior Secondary runs longer and adds a fourth component:
Full component detail sits on our HAST format page. The practical implication: a Year 6 candidate has a whole extra section, abstract reasoning, that a Year 5 candidate never meets, and less time to write.
What do families get wrong about BSHS selective entry?
The Academic Selective Entry process itself is fairly clear once you read the school's page. Where families get tangled is the other categories, local catchment in particular, with their own rules, forms and evidence requirements. If you are applying under more than one category, read each one separately rather than assuming the academic rules carry across.
The misjudgement we see most often on the academic side is simpler than that. Some families assume you turn up and sit the test on the day, and that preparation is optional or somehow unsporting.
It is not how the field works. Most of the children in that room have prepared. Their families have bought practice papers, worked through selective exam material at home, gone to tutoring, or bought online practice tests. That is the baseline your child is being ranked against, and the school ranks on an order of merit, so it only matters relative to everyone else in the room.
None of which means a child needs years of coaching. It means walking in cold, against a prepared field, on a paper with no resit and no feedback, is a decision worth making deliberately rather than by default.
Does the school tell you how your child went?
No. Brisbane State High states that, as per the Enrolment Management Plan, there is no internal review of the Executive Principal's decision and feedback will not be given on unsuccessful applications.
The school also states that past test papers are not available, and recommends that the best preparation is active engagement with current learning at primary school, plus a good night's sleep and a calm household.
Both of those positions are reasonable, and both leave a gap. If you want to know where your child stands against this format before the day, you have to find out yourself, because nobody will tell you afterwards.
What happens after a Year 5 conditional offer?
The offer is conditional, and the conditions run for two years. Conditional enrolment requires the student to commit to and participate in the Aspiring Minds program during Year 6, and to maintain a high level of participation and achievement to keep the conditional status.
Beyond that, Year 5 applicants must demonstrate successful participation in transition activities, continued excellence in academics, attendance, effort and behaviour through Years 5 and 6, and attend an enrolment interview with a member of the Leadership Team.
Full detail on that pathway is on our HAST-P and Year 5 conditional entry page.
What about Years 8 to 11?
Very limited and heavily oversubscribed, with places offered based on availability and the school's enrolment capacity. There is no published test for this stream.
The application stays active each year until the student reaches Year 11, but only if you update it annually with current reports and achievements during the published application window. Failure to update means the application is not considered in future years. The school strongly recommends applying only with a minimum of straight As in English, Mathematics, Science and Humanities and Social Sciences.
Where to next
- HAST-P and Year 5 conditional entry
- HAST test format: both levels, with ACER's published timings
- HAST practice tests
- QASMT or Brisbane State High?
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FAQ block for schema
How much is the Brisbane State High selective entry application fee? $420.00, non-refundable and non-transferable, paid via the Qkr! app, and payable once per year even across multiple selective entry categories.
What test does Brisbane State High use for selective entry? The ACER Higher Ability Selection Test. HAST-P for Year 5 applicants and HAST Junior Secondary for Year 6 applicants.
Can my child sit the BSHS test on a different date? No. The school offers no alternative test dates under any circumstances.
Does BSHS give feedback on unsuccessful applications? No. There is no internal review of the Executive Principal's decision and no feedback is given.
Are BSHS past test papers available? No. The school states past test papers are not available.
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Written by the teaching team at Practice Tests and Exams. We have taught Year 3 to 12 English and Year 3 to 6 maths in small group classes to our own syllabus since 2008, and prepare Queensland students for selective entry and scholarship exams.
Fees, dates, documents and pathway detail verified against the Brisbane State High School Academic Selective Entry page on 10 September 2026; that page was last updated by the school on 27 August 2026. Confirm the current cycle before applying.