Australian assessments and practice tests

Australian PAT assessments and practice guide

ACER's Progressive Achievement Tests help schools diagnose current skills and monitor learning. Teachers choose suitable tests using current ability and professional judgement. Suggested year ranges help select a starting point; they do not assign every student to a fixed test level. PAT school assessments are distinct from scholarship and entrance testing.

This guide covers the 14 current online product entries, both Secondary Transition Editions, older paper components and product transitions. Product entries and individual test forms are different counts. Availability and administration requirements can change, so follow the official guidance for the selected product.

The official times below are administration recommendations, sometimes with extra preparation or practice time. School administrators manage these clocks; the online system does not automatically lock students out. Read ACER's timing and purpose guidance.

Independent Maths skill practice

Original fixed-form Maths practice covers four overlapping stages. Published forms link to their detail pages below. Unpublished forms show their current availability and a detail link. Other PAT subjects currently have guide and official-resource coverage only.

Each stage has Forms A, B and C: 30 single-choice questions with a resumable 40-minute practice clock, a scientific practice calculator throughout and no reference sheet. Scratch paper is encouraged. You can save, pause and resume, then submit to review explanations. You may continue after the countdown ends without automatic submission.

The practice allocation is 14 Number and algebra, ten Measurement and space and six Statistics and probability questions. The fixed count, category targets and calculator are LivePhysics choices. Official PAT includes linear and adaptive delivery with different item counts and tool rules; adaptive tests select individual pathways. Official 5th Edition calculator guidance and adaptive calculator guidance describe school administration.

Each question earns one instructional practice point. Stages and suggested years are independent starting points, not official PAT levels or calibrated ability bands. Practice results do not predict PAT scale scores, percentiles or achievement bands, diagnose ability or measure learning growth. LivePhysics practice is original and is not endorsed by ACER.

PAT resource research checked 10 October 2026. Older paper listings do not guarantee every booklet is currently purchasable; an online replacement alone does not establish paper withdrawal.

Current online assessments

  • PAT Maths 5th Edition

    Audience: Broadly Years 1–10; ten linear levels selected by current ability.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 40 minutes recommended. Tests 1–2 have 30 items, 3–6 have 35 and 7–10 have 40.

    Status: Current online edition.

  • PAT Maths Adaptive

    Audience: Broadly Years 1–10; personalised pathways.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 40 minutes recommended, with 30–42 items per student.

    Status: Current adaptive product; item pathways vary.

  • PAT Reading 5th Edition

    Audience: Broadly Years 1–10; ten linear levels selected by ability.

    Delivery and timing: Online; Test 1 has 14 items and a recommended 25 minutes. Tests 2–10 have 29, 32, 29, 29, 34, 35, 34, 35 and 35 items respectively, with 40 minutes recommended.

    Status: Current online edition.

  • PAT Reading Adaptive

    Audience: Broadly Years 1–10; personalised pathways.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 45 minutes recommended, with 30–36 items per student.

    Status: Current adaptive product; item pathways vary.

  • PAT Early Literacy

    Audience: Foundation and Year 1 focus.

    Delivery and timing: Narrated online assessments; untimed, approximately 30 minutes each. Phonics and Related Skills has three linear forms with 46, 48 and 49 presented items; paired scoring reduces reported counts. Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension are separate two-stage adaptive assessments, each with two entry levels.

    Status: Recommended for new early reading implementation and future use.

  • PAT Early Years Maths

    Audience: First two school years; Start Foundation, Mid-Foundation, Mid-Year 1 and End Year 1 forms.

    Delivery and timing: Audio-supported online and touch interaction; approximately 20–35 minutes for the assessment, plus practice.

    Status: Current early-years Maths product.

  • PAT Early Years Reading

    Audience: First two school years; Start Foundation, Mid-Foundation, Mid-Year 1 and End Year 1 forms covering print, phonics, vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension.

    Delivery and timing: Audio-supported online; approximately 30–45 minutes for the assessment, plus practice.

    Status: Available during transition to Early Literacy. No exact closure date is specified in the transition guidance.

  • PAT Spelling Skills

    Audience: Foundation–Year 10; twenty tests across increasing-difficulty sets A–E. Sets describe spelling development rather than fixed school years.

    Delivery and timing: Online audio with spelling production and selection; 20 minutes recommended.

    Status: Newer spelling product, with its own scale. Older PAT Spelling remains listed separately.

  • PAT Spelling

    Audience: Broadly Years 2–10; eight levels labelled Tests 3–10.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 20 minutes recommended. Students find and correct misspelt words in written sentences.

    Status: Older product still offered alongside Spelling Skills; do not treat the scales as interchangeable.

  • PAT Vocabulary Skills

    Audience: Broadly Years 2–10; five forms covering Knowing, Applying, Categorising and Morphology.

    Delivery and timing: Online; Test 1: 35 minutes, Tests 2–3: 40 minutes, Tests 4–5: 45 minutes recommended.

    Status: Newer vocabulary product. Its scale cannot be directly compared with older PAT Vocabulary.

  • PAT Vocabulary

    Audience: Broadly Years 3–10; five synonym-focused forms with 35–40 items.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 25 minutes recommended.

    Status: Older product still offered alongside Vocabulary Skills; their scales cannot be directly compared.

  • PAT Grammar and Punctuation

    Audience: Broadly Years 3–9; seven overlapping levels, with 35 multiple-choice tasks per test.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 30 minutes recommended.

    Status: Current online product, distinct from the paper PAT-SPG range.

  • PAT Science 2nd Edition

    Audience: Broadly Years 3–10; eight levels. Tests 1–2 have 25 items, 3–4 have 30, 5–6 have 35 and 7–8 have 40.

    Delivery and timing: Online interactive stimuli include video and animation; 60 minutes recommended.

    Status: Current online edition, distinct from older paper Science.

  • PAT Critical Reasoning

    Audience: Broadly Years 5–10; overlapping Tests A, B and C have 18, 20 and 18 items. Conceptual reasoning, basic logic and argument analysis.

    Delivery and timing: Online; 35 minutes recommended. Some items have partial credit.

    Status: Current online product.

Secondary Transition Editions

Older paper editions and components

  • PAT Maths 4th Edition: paper

    Audience: Ten-level range for Years 1–10.

    Delivery and timing: Printed tests; consult the selected booklet's administration instructions.

    Status: Paper collection remains listed, distinct from the retired online 4th Edition. A listing does not guarantee every booklet is purchasable.

  • PAT Reading 4th Edition: comprehension

    Audience: Eleven comprehension tests in the paper range.

    Delivery and timing: Printed comprehension tests; consult the selected booklet's administration instructions.

    Status: Older paper collection remains listed.

  • PAT Reading 4th Edition: vocabulary

    Audience: Five vocabulary tests in the paper range.

    Delivery and timing: Printed vocabulary tests; consult the selected booklet's administration instructions.

    Status: Separate component of the older paper Reading collection.

  • PAT Reading 4th Edition: spelling

    Audience: Nine spelling lists in the paper range.

    Delivery and timing: Printed spelling component; consult the selected booklet's administration instructions.

    Status: Separate component of the older paper Reading collection.

  • PAT-SPG: Grammar and Punctuation

    Audience: Seven Grammar and Punctuation tests.

    Delivery and timing: Paper component of PAT Written Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar; consult the selected booklet's instructions.

    Status: Older paper collection remains listed.

  • PAT-SPG: Written Spelling

    Audience: Eight Written Spelling tests.

    Delivery and timing: Paper component of PAT Written Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar; consult the selected booklet's instructions.

    Status: Separate component of the older paper PAT-SPG collection.

  • PAT Science: paper range

    Audience: Eight tests, broadly Years 3–10.

    Delivery and timing: Printed tests; consult the selected booklet's administration instructions.

    Status: Older paper collection remains listed, distinct from online 2nd Edition interactive delivery.

Retiring, retired and transitioning products

ACER's current PAT assessment catalogue