The Academic Selective Entrance Test (ASET) is the official entry exam for Western Australia’s Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program. Administered by the Department of Education WA, the ASET identifies high-performing Year 6 students seeking admission to selective public secondary schools for Year 7 placement.
The test is designed to assess reasoning, critical thinking, and academic potential - not just memorised knowledge. Selected students join academically enriched classrooms that offer advanced learning, challenging curriculum, and peer interaction with similarly gifted individuals.
All sections except for the writing task are in a multiple-choice format. The focus is on reasoning and strategic thinking, not rote memory or formula recall.
The ASET is for students currently in Year 6 who are applying for Year 7 entry into one of Western Australia’s public schools offering Gifted and Talented programs.
Students who qualify through the ASET are offered a place in a GATE program at a participating secondary school. Benefits include:
The quantitative reasoning test aims to measure the student's ability to apply mathematical knowledge, including numbers, measurement, algebra, space and data.
Don’t expect to see simple calculations that need to be solved – this test is about application and problem-solving using mathematics and numbers. Expect to see questions that ask to find the number pattern. Most of the questions involve simple operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division – but what’s hard is figuring out what mathematics to use, how to use it and when to use it.
The ASET reading comprehension component is a multiple-choice section that measures your child's ability to infer and interpret meaning from a passage and then problem-solve to find the answer. Reading passages could range from poems, novel extracts, cartoons and articles.
Students are asked to read or review a variety of media such as articles, narrative extracts, poetry and maybe even cartoons. They’re also asked to answer questions based on these texts. It’s not about “matching words” – it’s about deep understanding and making “invisible” connections that are implied but not explicitly stated.
The abstract reasoning test aims to measure the student's ability to analyse shapes, investigate patterns & relationships, and solve complex problems.
This section often appears foreign to parents. It tests how well your child solves visual and spatial problems involving images and shapes. It’s often about pattern recognition: What image fits next? Which is the odd one out? What belongs where? These problems can be mastered using strategies taught in our abstract reasoning course.
The writing test in ASET is an open-ended task where students respond to a creative, informative or persuasive prompt. This section assesses the student's ability to express ideas clearly in written form. Evaluation includes punctuation, creativity, construction, grammar, spelling and relevance to the prompt.
To stand out, students need more than just correct grammar—they need depth. The writing must answer the prompt directly and thoughtfully. In the past three years, the prompts were narrative (story) based, but any genre may appear. Higher marks are awarded for content and insight.
Aiming for one of Australia's top selective schools? Here's what you need to know and how to prepare.
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