Public schools rank high in a district that is among the city's upper 10 in reading scores, according to Dr. Arnold Raisner, Community School District 28 superintendent. The two junior high schools, he said, have recently ranked first and third as ''feeders'' for Stuyvesant High School, which accepts students only on the basis of achievement examinations. Forest Hills High School ''has perhaps a greater academic emphasis,'' Dr. Raisner said, but ''Hillcrest High offers a wider variety of courses.'' ROBBERIES, auto thefts and other grand larcenies reported to the 1 12th Precinct in 1981 were up 8 to 10 percent over 1980, but b urglaries declined. Homicides dropped from 9 to 5 and rape c omplaints remained at just over 20.

Only 100 or so Forest Hills commuters regularly travel by Long Island Rail Road now - 14 minutes by timetable to Penn Station from 70-year-old Station Square. Most go by express or regular buses or the E, F, N and GG subway trains.

Strangers who drive or walk in Forest Hills (or Rego Park or Kew Gardens, for that matter) should not be unsettled by the peculiar illusion that they are only moving in place. The repetitive streetgrid north of the Long Island Rail Road -progressing grudgingly from, for example, 63d Avenue to 63d Road to 63d Drive -resulted from later subdivision of supersized ''country'' blocks formed by the original layout of the avenues.

The ''co-op fever'' that Mr. Atlas said ''has hit Forest Hills harder than any place in Queens or maybe outside Manhattan'' is fueled by prospective buyers price-squeezed out of Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights. For co-ops, which outnumber condominiums, one broker estimated $15,000 to $25,000 per room. Others cited total prices from a ''rare but possible'' $40,000 or $60,000 for a onebedroom (maintenance $275-$300) to $80,000 to $125,000 for up to three-bedrooms -though there are luxury apartments in Forest Hills priced far higher.

Asserting that few except nonresidents can afford to buy, tenant groups are urging a two-year freeze on co-op and condo conversions. They have managed to change a good many conversions to noneviction plans.

Single-family attached houses sell for up to $100,000, two-family for perhaps $115,000 to $200,000. Free-standing private homes also vary widely.

''North of Queens Boulevard in Old Forest Hills, the price for a four-bedroom house, circa 1927, on a 50- or 60-by-100-foot lot,'' according to one broker, ''would be $200,000 and up'' - up, in fact, to $350,000, according to another. Competition From Next Door