Build the HAST foundations
before the race begins. Foundations.
HAST is used by many independent schools in NSW for selective-entry and scholarship applications. This programme helps students build the reasoning, reading and problem-solving skills they need well before exam year, so they can focus on improving their test technique when the time comes.
HAST tests how your child thinks, not what they memorised.
The Higher Ability Selection Test is built by ACER and used by independent schools across New South Wales for entry into academically selective streams and for scholarship selection. It assesses five things: reading comprehension, written expression, mathematical reasoning, abstract reasoning and scientific reasoning. None of those are curriculum topics that can be revised the week before. They are habits of thinking, and habits take terms to build, not weeks.
Wednesday covers the literacy and abstract side: reading comprehension, written expression and abstract reasoning. Friday covers the quantitative and scientific side: mathematical reasoning and scientific reasoning. A trial test every fortnight puts all of it under exam conditions, so your child practises the real thing five times across the term. Every component of HAST is taught explicitly, on a schedule designed to build depth well before the exam year.
The four gaps we see every exam year.
By the time families arrive in the exam year, the same gaps show up again and again. Foundations exists to close them while there is still time.
Reading Comprehension
Students who read fluently but miss inference, tone and author’s purpose. HAST passages are dense and the questions sit below the surface, so speed without depth scores poorly.
Written Expression
Strong ideas that collapse without structure. HAST written expression rewards a clear line of thought, controlled paragraphing and vocabulary used precisely rather than decoratively.
Abstract Reasoning
Matrices, sequences and spatial patterns that look like nothing school teaches, because they are not taught at school. Pattern recognition is trainable, but only with sustained exposure.
Maths & Scientific Reasoning
Students who can execute a procedure but stall when a question is unfamiliar. HAST asks them to interpret data, reason from evidence and apply maths in contexts they have not seen before.
Foundations is the phase most families skip. They arrive in the exam year and try to build reasoning, writing and interpretation from a standing start in a few months. The students who do best have spent the previous year quietly building the habits: reading harder texts, writing weekly, meeting abstract patterns often enough that they stop feeling foreign.
Two classes. Every component covered. A trial test every fortnight.
One class on the literacy and reasoning side, one on the quantitative side, and a trial test every two weeks to put it all under exam conditions. Each class is 60 minutes with a clear remit, running every week of the course.
Reading Comprehension, Written Expression & Abstract Reasoning
One hour on the three components that decide the literacy half of HAST. Reading is taught for depth, writing is marked every week, and abstract reasoning is drilled as a trainable skill rather than a mystery.
- Reading comprehension at depth, inference, tone, author’s purpose and argument structure
- Dense unseen passages, fiction, non-fiction and persuasive texts under exam pacing
- Written expression, structure, paragraph control and precise vocabulary
- Marked writing every week, with model responses and improvement targets
- Abstract reasoning, matrices, sequences, rotations and spatial patterns
- Pattern libraries, the recurring shapes students learn to recognise on sight
Mathematical & Scientific Reasoning
One hour on the quantitative half of HAST. Not curriculum revision: reasoning with numbers, interpreting data and drawing conclusions from evidence in unfamiliar contexts.
- Mathematical reasoning, multi-step problems that reward thinking over recall
- Number sense and estimation, the fluency that buys time in a timed paper
- Data interpretation, tables, graphs and the traps built into them
- Scientific reasoning, hypotheses, variables, controls and evidence
- Experiment analysis, reading a described investigation and reasoning from results
- Unfamiliar contexts, applying known maths to problems students have never seen
Fortnightly Trial Test
One HAST-style trial test every two weeks, completed online on the Scholarly Learning Platform. The two classes teach the thinking. The trial test is where students practise it under exam conditions, fortnight after fortnight, until the format stops feeling like a test and starts feeling like routine.
- 5 trial tests, one every two weeks across the 10-week term
- HAST-style questions, built to the shape and difficulty of the real components
- Timed conditions, so pacing becomes a habit rather than a shock on exam day
- Ranked results, every test scored and ranked against the wider Scholarly cohort
- Component breakdown, see which of the five areas moved and which need work
- Reviewed in class, common errors from each test picked up in the lessons that follow
Everything in. No upsells.
Two live classes a week, a trial test every fortnight, all materials, all feedback, all reports.
Top-ATAR graduate tutors
Every class taught live by tutors with elite academic records and specific training in HAST question shapes and marking criteria.
Fortnightly trial test, 5 in the term
One HAST-style trial test every two weeks, timed and completed online. Every test is scored and ranked against the wider Scholarly cohort.
Marked writing every week
Written expression comes back annotated with specific coaching on structure, vocabulary and control, plus model responses to work from.
Progress reports with percentile rankings
See exactly where your child sits against the wider Scholarly cohort, component by component and trial test by trial test, so you know what is strong and what needs work.
Weekly homework with feedback
Targeted practice aligned to each week’s focus, tracked through the Scholarly Learning Platform so nothing quietly slips.
Catch-up recordings
Every class has a catch-up recording. If your child misses a session or wants to revisit a concept, they can watch the lesson back.
7-day Success Coach support
Questions answered outside class time via WhatsApp, WeChat and Scholarly Ask, with a dedicated coach monitoring homework and progress.
What the week looks like
Weekly homework aligned with each class, tracked through the Scholarly Learning Platform. Catch-up recordings available for every session. 7-day Success Coach support via WhatsApp and WeChat for questions outside class time.
Foundations built early, not crammed late.
20 live sessions and 5 trial tests across Term 4 2026. Two classes a week, one trial test every fortnight, 10 weeks, every component taught explicitly. Semester enrolment (Term 4 2026 plus Term 1 2027) is also available for families who want the longer runway.
- 20 live online sessions (2 per week)
- Wednesday 5-6pm and Friday 5-6pm
- 5 fortnightly trial tests, scored and ranked
- All five HAST components covered explicitly
- Marked writing every week with model responses
- Weekly homework with detailed feedback
- Progress reports with percentile rankings
- Catch-up recordings for every class
- 7-day Success Coach support
- Term 1 2027 continuation available
Common Questions
Start the reasoning work early.
HAST rewards thinking that takes terms to build, not weeks. Two classes a week across all five components, a trial test every fortnight, taught in the year before the pressure arrives.