My son is sitting the HAST in Term 2 and I'm trying to figure out how early to start structured prep. He's 10, currently in Year 5, and we found out about the test about 14 weeks before the sitting date. From what I've read, it covers verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, abstract reasoning, and reading comprehension — is that still correct or has the format changed recently?
We tried a sample paper from the school and he got about 65% overall, with abstract reasoning being his weakest area at around 52%. The school said acceptance rates at the selective schools we're targeting are somewhere around 8–12%, which is honestly a bit intimidating. Does anyone have a sense of what percentile you need to be aiming for to be genuinely competitive?
At the moment we're doing 30 minutes a day, five days a week, mixing practice questions with general reading. I've seen posts suggesting 45–60 minutes is more effective in the final 4–5 weeks, but I don't want to burn him out before the test date either. He's motivated but he's also got sport and other commitments.
If anyone has been through this recently with a child who actually got into a selective school, I'd love to hear what worked rather than what the prep companies suggest.
The format you described is correct as of last year — four subtests, timed separately. Abstract reasoning is the one kids underestimate because you can't study content for it, you just build pattern recognition through repetition.
For competitive schools you're generally looking at top 10–15 percentile nationally, sometimes higher for the most sought-after schools. Don't chase a raw score target — focus on improvement relative to his starting point and let the percentile take care of itself.
14 weeks is a solid runway. My daughter started at 12 weeks and got into her first-choice school — we did 40 minutes four days a week and one longer session on weekends. Abstract reasoning improved the most, probably 15 percentage points over the prep period.
Burnout is a real risk if you push too hard early. We kept sessions short until week 10 then stepped up intensity for the final month. He was still fresh on test day and I think that made a genuine difference to his results.
Honestly, 14 weeks felt like way too much when we started and somehow not enough by week 10. We kicked off around the same point and my daughter was struggling so badly with the numerical section in the first few weeks that I nearly pulled the plug on the whole thing. What actually helped us turn it around was drilling the specific question types rather than doing general maths -- we found free hast mathematical reasoning practice that broke it down properly and that's when things clicked.
It's not a sprint, it's genuinely a slow build. Week 1-4 she wasn't improving at all and I thought we'd wasted our time starting so early, but the practice was compounding in ways I couldn't see yet. She ended up sitting it and passing comfortably. Your son's 10 -- the verbal and abstract reasoning stuff will come faster than you think, just don't panic if weeks 3-5 look like nothing's sticking.
We started 10 weeks out with my daughter and honestly it wasn't enough — she sat it last year and didn't get through. What we didn't realise was that the abstract reasoning section is almost nothing like regular schoolwork, so she'd never really seen that style of question before the actual test. The verbal reasoning caught us off guard too because it moves fast and she'd never practised under timed conditions.
Second attempt we gave ourselves 16 weeks and the biggest change was doing timed practice from week one, not just working through questions at her own pace. We also focused a lot on abstract reasoning early on because it genuinely takes time to click. She got in this time. If I were you I'd start now and treat the first month as pure familiarisation with the format, then crank up the intensity closer in.
Honestly, 14 weeks felt like plenty when we started but by week three I was convinced we'd left it too late. My daughter froze up on the abstract reasoning sections and I nearly pulled the pin entirely. What kept us going was just scaling back — we dropped to 20 minutes a day instead of an hour and focused on one section at a time rather than trying to do everything at once.
She passed, not with a stellar score, but she passed. Looking back I don't think the timeline was the problem, it was how we were using it. If your son's struggling with a particular section don't panic and double down, just slow it down. Consistent low-pressure practice over 14 weeks is more than enough if you're not burning him out halfway through.
Just sat the HAST last month and honestly the one thing that made the biggest difference for me was doing timed practice under actual test conditions, not just answering questions casually. I kept getting tripped up on the abstract reasoning section because I'd never really practiced moving through it quickly, and once I started timing myself strictly it got so much easier. Fourteen weeks is a good amount of time if you're consistent.
Don't leave reading comprehension till the end, that's what I'd tell anyone. It seems easy but the passages in the real test are longer than you'd expect and the questions are sneaky. I'd say start structured prep around 10-12 weeks out and spend the first few weeks just figuring out which section needs the most work, then double down on that.