Australian Technology Network Engineering Selection Test (ATNEST)

Contact us

Australian Council for Educational Research

19 Prospect Hill Road
Camberwell, Victoria, Australia 3124

T: +61 3 9277 5502
F: +61 3 9277 5757
E: atnest@acer.edu.au

Preparation

The purpose of ATNEST is to assess a candidate’s abilities in a range of cross-curricular skills that have been identified as important for the study of Engineering.

These include the ability to:

• reason and solve problems
• analyse information
• make logical deductions; and form judgements

ATNEST does not draw on particular subject knowledge; hence a candidate can not be coached to improve performance. However familiarity with the question types typically presented in ATNEST is an advantage. For this reason some sample questions are provided on this site. Candidates should note that ACER does not endorse any commercially available courses claiming to offer ATNEST preparation.

Download ATNEST Sample Questions

Test taking strategy

It is not advisable to spend too much time on any one question. Read the stimulus material a few times before starting the questions. Read through all the alternative answers to a question, even if you think that the first one is correct, before making your chosen response. Check whether there are any options that you can discard immediately because they are obviously wrong. If you think you know the answer to a question, mark it, even if you are not certain. Go to the next question and come back later if you have time. This will prevent you from getting your answers out of sequence with the actual questions, and will give you some chance if you run out of time. Be careful not to spend too much time using your dictionary.

Points to note

• Answers should be marked directly on the answer sheet, not on the test booklet.
• You may do draft work in the margins of your test book. Scrap paper is not allowed.
• All questions have the same value. It is recommended that you attempt as many questions as possible in order to maximise your score.
• No marks will be deducted for a wrong answer.
• If you mark more than one answer to a question, it will be considered wrong.
• Use only grey lead pencil (HB, B or 2B) to mark your answers.

Download ATNEST sample answer sheet