Learn how a SEAL program (SEALP) can help your talented child reach their potential. Find out what it takes to get a SEALP spot and what to expect from the ACER HAST test (format, number of questions and time limit).
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Select Entry Accelerated Learning Programs (SEAL or SEALP) are enrichment programs designed for academically gifted and talented students who can work at a much faster pace than their peers. SEAL/SEALP allows high achievers to accelerate their academic studies and because of this, offers a more engaging and challenging learning environment compared to a standard classroom.
SEAL programs are generally available across 39 public high schools in Victoria and many start from Year 7.
The SEAL program can be extremely rewarding for students who perform much higher than their peers in a variety of subjects.
Have you noticed that your child:
In such a case, you should consider applying for a SEAL program.
Getting into a select entry accelerated learning program is getting harder every year.
Not only does the Department of Education set limitations on student capacity, but as more and more parents discover the benefits of a SEAL program/SEALP, the competition gets tougher.
As a result, some schools have either stopped the SEAL program intakes or devised stricter rules for the applicants. Keilor Downs College, for example, now only accepts applications from students living within a 5km radius from the school.
Due to limited spots and stiff competition, your child needs to show excellent NAPLAN grades and participate in a range of extracurricular activities. Plus, it's no longer enough to do great in the SEAL ACER Higher Ability Selection Test.
Your child needs to ACE it.
If you've decided to apply for a select-entry accelerated learning program, be sure to check schools that offer SEAL/SEALP spots and their requirements for entry. You can see the list of schools providing SEAL/SEALP programs here (for your convenience, we've categorized them according to the exam body) or through the official website of The Academy of Accredited SEAL Schools (TAASS).
With gifted and talented exams, the cut-off marks vary from year to year. This is because your child's performance is compared against other applicants.
Below are diagrams of REAL students that show how competitive your child's test performance should be in each of the subtests of the ACER HAST exam to get a SEAL /SEALP offer.
You'll see that your child's performance needs to be in the top 15% or better in ALL subtests in order to feel more confident of receiving a school offer.
A few things to note:
The ACER Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST) for the SEAL program consists of 4 parts: mathematical reasoning, reading comprehension, abstract reasoning, and written expression.
Unlike the SEAL Edutest exam (are you sitting an Edutest exam instead of ACER HAST? If so, go to the Edutest SEAL/SEALP page), ACER HAST heavily relies on reasoning skills. Its aim is to test your child's innate abilities and future potential rather than check what they've learned at school.
ACER has previously stated that questions may differ from the traditional school curriculum. And… from our students’ experiences, the difficulty level is much higher (about 1 - 2 grade levels higher) than your child's current year level.
Here is an outline of each part of the ACER HAST exam along with the number of questions and the time limit.
Make no mistake. Mathematical reasoning isn't just performing given calculations - it involves thinking using mathematics to solve problems. The purpose of mathematical reasoning questions is to test your child's problem-solving skills and logical thinking rather than their knowledge of mathematical concepts and formulas. That said, your child will need to brush up on basic algebra such as equations, fractions, reading graphs to boost their score.
The questions in this section are generally not straightforward. Your child will need to think about HOW to solve the problem and which Math operations to apply to arrive at the correct answer.
Here's an example of a question you might get (this is an Exam Success question developed for our online teaching test bank):
Kai wants to purchase artwork for his wall. His wall is 240 metres high and 360 metres wide. The perfect sized artwork would cover three-quarters of the width and two-thirds of the height of his wall. What is the perfect sized artwork to purchase (height x width)?
a) 2.7 m x 1.6 m
b) 2.4 m x 1.8 m
c) 180 cm x 240 cm
d) 160 cm x 270 cm
e) None of these
Got the answer? It’s D. Learn how to answer these questions quickly and correctly in our test bank with expert video solutions.
In this part, your child will be presented with a range of passages and asked to answer multiple-choice questions based on the information from the text.
The passages can be drawn from such genres as fiction, poetry, non-fiction narratives, historical chronicles, autobiographies, scientific articles and the like.
Contrary to popular opinion, reading comprehension is rarely about extracting factual data from the text. Among many things, it tests your child's ability to:
Some of the more trickier reading comprehension questions will test your child’s ability to:
Reading comprehension questions are often tricky. So, the most important tip to remember is to always read all answer options and choose the one that fits best. Wanting more tips on reading comprehension? Check out this in-depth reading comprehension guide.
This part examines your child’s ability to reason with visual problems such as images and diagrams, as well as how fast they can think strategically when dealing with new information.
There’s not much language content in this part, which is good news if English is not your child’s first language.
At first glance, abstract reasoning questions may look illogical and chaotic. In reality, all of them follow a pattern that your child needs to uncover.
Practicing abstract reasoning questions before the exam is the key, but there are also useful time-saving strategies that can help your child uncover the pattern quickly and easily. Check out our abstract reasoning guide full of tips and tricks.
The written part of the ACER HAST requires your child to write a written expression piece based on a statement, picture, or a combination of the two. The type or genre of writing is quite open - for example, the question could request that you write a story, a description, an explanation, an opinion piece, a persuasive piece and more.
A very important point to note is that many parents think that if their child's spelling and grammar is on point, that they’ll get high scores. Not true! Nearly all students going for a SEAL/SEALP program will have good grammar and spelling, so it’s content (i.e. the thought and what’s being said) which really makes a big impact.
Want help in this challenging area? We cover coaching to help your child with writing in our writing improvement program - writing club.
*The number of questions and time limit have been estimated from the ACER HAST Candidate Information Bulletin and other publicly available information. Please note that the authoritative body can change the number of questions and time limits from year to year so please refer to their websites for the most up to date information. Time per question is calculated by taking the time limit divided by the number of questions.
There are a few sample questions by ACER that you can download from the ACER website. However, the problem that many students and parents have found out later is that the questions that ACER may provide as practice are much easier than the ones in the real exam (it makes sense, they produce exam questions so they're not going to give you the same ones they get paid to produce by schools!).
Most importantly, they don't give you the secret recipe on 'how to answer the question'.
But... we do!
Every test bank question comes with an expert video solution that takes you step-by-step on how to answer the question in 5 steps or less. And, our courses and programs are designed for your child to understand the strategy behind answering questions successfully.
See the available test prep designed for your child’s success now.
Author's Score (ATAR or IELTS): 96.04
Author's Score (ATAR or IELTS): 96.04