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The ACT Scaling Test (AST) is a test of aptitude in studies for Year 12 students in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...
(ACT) set by the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies (BSSS) and created by the
Australian Council for Educational Research
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), established in 1930, is an independent educational research organisation based in Camberwell, Victoria (Melbourne) and with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Dubai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Lond ...
(ACER). It is used to rank students and colleges for the calculation of an
Australian Tertiary Admission Rank
The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is the primary criterion for domestic student entry into undergraduate courses in Australian public universities. It was gradually introduced to most states and territories in 2009–10 and has sinc ...
(ATAR) as of June 2009.
The AST consists of a multiple choice test (2 hrs 15 mins, 80 questions), a short answer test (1 hr 45 mins), and an argumentative essay (2 hrs 30 mins, 600 words). The AST is designed to test the aptitude of a student rather their knowledge. Questions cover a range of subjects including mathematics,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
but do not require knowledge in those fields.
The first sitting of the AST occurs on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of September. There is a second sitting of the AST during October for those who missed the first sitting due to illness or misadventure.
See also
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Special Tertiary Admissions Test The Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) is a group of three scholastic aptitude tests used for admission into undergraduate programs at Australian universities, for students without a recent Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). Some univer ...
(also created by ACER)
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Graduate Medical School Admissions Test
The Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (commonly known as the GAMSAT, formerly Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test) is a test used to select candidates applying to study medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy and veterinary s ...