Who Needs the PGAT? Postgraduate Admission and How Your Score Is Used

Last verified: 18 October 2026. Conditions can change, so check the Post-Graduate General Aptitude Test page on the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) website and the admission requirements of the programme you are applying to before you decide. This site is independent and is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment) or any government body.

The Post-Graduate General Aptitude Test (PGAT, «قدرات الجامعيين») is run by Qiyas, ETEC's National Center for Assessment. ETEC describes it as a test of general learning abilities for university and college graduates who want to join postgraduate programmes. This guide explains who needs the test, how it differs from the high-school Qudurat test, how the score is used and when to sit it.

Who takes this test?

According to ETEC's page, the target groups are:

• University graduates, and students in the final year of their undergraduate studies.
• Postgraduate students enrolled in programmes at universities and colleges that require the test.
• People joining bodies that require this test.

The bodies that use the test, as ETEC lists them: universities, colleges, institutes, and all educational and professional bodies that require it.

The test booklet published by the National Center for Assessment in 2017 gave examples of programmes that require it, such as postgraduate study at Saudi universities, military programmes after university, scholarships for postgraduate study abroad, and higher diploma programmes in Saudi Arabia and abroad. That list is old; today the requirements of the programme or body itself are what count.

How is it different from the high-school Qudurat test?

The names are similar, but they are different tests:

So check the exact test your programme asks for: «اختبار القدرات العامة للجامعيين» (PGAT), not «اختبار القدرات العامة» for high-school students. And do not build your study plan on the high-school test's section weights; each PGAT component has 24 questions (20%).

How is the score used?

One of the test's aims, as ETEC states it, is to provide a criterion added to the other criteria used to select postgraduate students. In other words, the score is one part of the admission decision, alongside whatever else the programme requires.

• Each university sets its own minimum: for example, King Saud University's graduate studies deanship requires at least 70 for master's and doctoral programmes (the university's admission requirements page), and some departments may require more. Other universities may set a different minimum, so check your programme's requirements.
• Weight of the score in admission: each programme decides.
• Result validity: five years from the test date.
• Attempts: five, plus a sixth three years after your first test.

Why do universities require it?

ETEC lists aims for the test, including:

1. Measuring the analytical and reasoning ability of university graduates.
2. Measuring graduates' potential for further academic achievement.
3. Measuring the ability to read with deep comprehension and recognise the logical structure of language.
4. Measuring the ability to reason and perceive spatial and non-spatial logical relationships.
5. Identifying students with research skills and abilities that improve their chances of continuing in postgraduate programmes.
6. Showing test takers their level in the mental abilities that matter for postgraduate education.

That is why the test does not ask about your field of study. It measures five components, verbal, quantitative, critical thinking, figures and logic, in 120 questions over 2 hours 5 minutes, in Arabic only and without a calculator. The details are in the "Test content" guide.

When should you sit the test?

• In your final university year or after graduating: you can register in either case, and the test is available all year.
• Well before the application deadline: results take 3 to 5 working days, and you may need a retake if your score is below the programme's minimum, so leave a margin of several weeks.
• Testing early pays off later: the result is valid for five years, so a score from your final university year may cover applications in the following years. Just make sure the test date will still be within five years when you apply.
• Do not sit it just to see: attempts are limited (five, then a sixth after three years), so try a full mock exam first and sit the real test when you are ready.

How to prepare

• Start with the new components: critical thinking, logic and figures, which the high-school Qudurat test does not have.
• Quantitative without a calculator: percentages, fractions, rounding and reading tables.
• Practise timing: about 62 seconds per question on average, so sit full 120-question mock exams in 2 hours 5 minutes on a computer.
• Register once you are ready: the fee is SAR 200; details are in the "Registration" guide.

How this site helps

• Free questions across the five components and their question types, with an explanation for every answer showing why it is correct.
• Mock exams of 120 questions in 2 hours 5 minutes.

The questions on this site are for practice and are not issued by ETEC. Your scores here are not an official result, are not sent to anyone and do not count towards admission. Your mock exam score does not predict your test score, but it shows you where you need more review. This site is independent, is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment) or any government body, and does not register you for the test.