Format: Paper assessments, with online reporting. 

Year level guidance: Years 6 and 7.

ACER’s Secondary Transition Editions (STE) are designed to support schools by providing a comprehensive picture of where students are in their learning as they transition from primary to secondary school.

They combine practical paper administration with online reporting through the ACER Data Explorer, ensuring transition assessment data can be used confidently alongside ongoing assessment in secondary years.

STE assessments are available for:

• ACER General Ability Test (AGAT)
• PAT Reading 
• PAT Maths 

Each assessment includes two test booklets (A and B) of similar difficulty. Students record their responses to multiple-choice questions using Optical Mark Reader (OMR) answer sheets.

ACER Test Scoring

Completed STE OMR answer sheets are returned to ACER for scoring. ACER will process the OMR answer sheet results and upload them to the school’s ACER Online Assessment and Reporting (OARS) account.

AGAT and PAT STE results will then be accessible in OARS, enabling schools to compare STE results with their existing PAT or AGAT online assessment data.

• Answer sheets are scored in batches of 50 across the STE suite (AGAT/PAT STE).
• If less than 50 answer sheets are returned, the minimum charge of 50 will still apply.
• If the number of returned answer sheets exceeds your available Student Processing Fee Credits, the outstanding balance will be invoiced.

Please download and complete the ACER Test Scoring and Analysis School Order Form (STE) for all scoring requests. 

How to use results: 

• Understand where students are in their learning at the point of transition into secondary school.
• Use reading, maths and general ability results together to build a comprehensive starting picture of each student.
• Support informed professional judgement when grouping students and planning teaching focus in early secondary years.
• Interpret results using familiar PAT scales and achievement bands, and the AGAT scale and ability bands.
• View transition results alongside subsequent PAT and AGAT assessment results to support a consistent understanding of progress over time.