News Limited is reporting Education Minister Christopher Pyne will today announce that a pilot program will be introduced in August.

Student teachers tested as part of the pilot will still graduate even if they flunk the exam.

But as of next year, those who fail can expect to look for another vocation.

Student teachers' understanding of syntax, grammar and punctuation will be put to the test, with a sample exam paper including problems such as spotting sentences without errors.

They will also be asked to find the percentage of funding remaining in an education budget and calculate a student's marks.

Mr Pyne said he wanted to ensure Australia got it right when selecting teachers.

"For too long there have been public concerns about the variability in the quality of teaching graduates and in the effectiveness of existing ­programs in preparing new teachers," he said.

"Testing key aspects of the personal literacy and numeracy skills of aspiring teachers will assist higher education providers, teacher employers and the general public to have absolute confidence in the skills of graduating teachers."

The national exam is a recommendation of the Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers report.

The report found many teaching degrees were mired in theory, lack practical training and did not equip new teachers with the skills to teach students maths and science.

However, it rejected calls to introduce minimum university entrance scores for teaching degrees or compulsory postgraduate qualifications for teachers.

The average ATAR (tertiary entrance rank) for education courses in Victoria was 61.9 last year, dropping as low as 40.25. This compares to an ATAR of 98.95 for biomedicine at Melbourne University and 98 for law at Monash University.

The trial exams will be conducted by Australian Council for Educational Research and are available to teaching students of all year levels in Australia's capital cities and regional locations Albury and Ballarat.