This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus for link adaptation in a wireless local area network (WLAN). A link adaptation test packet from a first WLAN device to a second WLAN device may be formatted as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) transmission and may include one or more test portions for link quality estimation of the MIMO transmission. A link quality estimation portion of the test packet may permit measurement of link quality for various spatial streams of the MIMO transmission. The link adaptation test packet may enable a fast rate adaptation of a communication link based on the impact of interference to the various spatial streams. The second WLAN device may provide feedback information regarding the one or more test portions. The feedback information may be used to determine a transmission rate for a subsequent transmission from the first WLAN device to the second WLAN device based on wireless channel conditions.