PGAT Content: The Five Components, Question Types and How to Approach Them

Last verified: 18 October 2026. Test details can change, so check the Post-Graduate General Aptitude Test page on the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) website before you start studying. This is an independent study guide and is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment) or any government body.

The Post-Graduate General Aptitude Test (PGAT; in Arabic اختبار القدرات العامة للجامعيين, often shortened to «قدرات الجامعيين») is run by Qiyas, ETEC's National Center for Assessment. ETEC describes it as a test of general learning abilities, such as analytical, reasoning, constructive and logical ability, for university and college graduates who want to join postgraduate programmes. It does not test what you studied: it tests how you think about words, numbers, arguments and figures.

Test format at a glance

That gives you about 62 seconds per question on average (125 minutes ÷ 120 questions), a little over a minute. Some questions, such as verbal analogies and odd-figure-out, take only a few seconds, so bank that time for reading passages, data questions and logic ordering puzzles.

Sections

The test has 120 questions in five components, and each section has 24 questions. Do not build your plan around a particular section order, and practise switching between question types without losing your rhythm.

The five components as ETEC defines them

Do not borrow the weights of the high-school General Aptitude Test (Qudurat): they are different tests. Each component has 24 questions, 20% of the test, and this site's mock exams follow that split.

Question types in each component, and how to approach them

The breakdown below draws on ETEC's definitions, the test booklet the National Center for Assessment published in 2017, and the question types common in preparation materials; it is also how we organised this site's question bank.

Verbal

• Verbal analogy: the 2017 booklet defines it as spotting the relation between a pair of words at the start of the question and matching it to a similar pair among the options. Approach: put the relation into a short sentence ("part of a whole", "tool and its use") and test each option against it.
• Sentence completion: understand a short, incomplete text and choose what completes it into a meaningful sentence. Approach: watch linking words such as «لكنّ» (but), «لأنّ» (because) and «رغم» (despite), which set the direction of the meaning, and predict the word before reading the options.
• Contextual error: find the word in a sentence that does not fit its meaning. Approach: work out the idea of the sentence first, then look for the word that contradicts it; the error is one of meaning.
• Reading comprehension: understand and analyse reading passages and answer questions about their content. Approach: read the question, then go back to the passage for the evidence instead of relying on what you already know about the topic.

Quantitative

• Arithmetic and word problems: percentages, discounts and profit, ratio and proportion, speed and work. Approach: turn the text into a short equation, and round the numbers when the options are far apart.
• Algebra and equations: common in preparation materials. Approach: if solving takes too long, plug in the options.
• Geometry: angles, areas and perimeters. Approach: learn the basic formulas, and sketch the figure with the givens on it before calculating.
• Data analysis: reading tables and charts and calculating from them. Approach: read the title and units first, and round when the question asks for an approximate value.
• Quantitative comparison: in the 2017 booklet this was a separate type: compare two quantities and choose one of four answers (the first is greater, the second is greater, they are equal, or the information is not enough). It may appear in the test. Approach: simplify both quantities before working them out in full, and only choose "not enough information" if the answer changes when an unknown changes.

All of this is without a calculator, so practise mental and paper arithmetic.

Critical thinking

The 2017 booklet describes it as higher-order thinking for analysing, evaluating and applying information, together with spotting fallacies and making sound judgements.

• Assumptions: what the writer takes for granted without saying it. Approach: ask "if this were not true, would the argument fall apart?" If it would, it is an assumption.
• Evaluating arguments and ideas: what strengthens or weakens an argument, and spotting the fallacy. Approach: identify the conclusion and the evidence first, then look for the option that touches the link between them.
• Drawing conclusions and making judgements: Approach: choose what genuinely follows from the text, and beware of extreme options ("always", "all") or ones that need information from outside the text.

Logic

The 2017 booklet says these questions measure planning, ordering, elimination and mental flexibility using conditional statements.

• Ordering and ranking: arrange people or things from a set of clues. Approach: draw a line, place each clue on it, and start with the most specific clue.
• Syllogisms and negation: what does and does not follow from "all", "some", "none" and "if… then". Approach: draw circles, and remember that "if A then B" does not mean "if B then A".
• Truth-tellers and liars: Approach: assume one person tells the truth and follow the consequences; if you reach a contradiction, drop the assumption.
• Days, dates and clocks: common in preparation materials. Approach: count the days, divide by 7 and look at the remainder.
• Assignment and planning puzzles: placing people in seats or tasks under conditions. Approach: draw a small grid and cross out impossible cells.

Figures

The 2017 booklet describes this as finding relations between shapes and solids in space: how they change, resemble, match, differ, fold or follow one another.

• Figure sequences: Approach: track one element at a time (direction of rotation, number of elements, shading).
• Odd figure out: Approach: look for a property shared by every figure but one.
• Figure analogies: Approach: describe in words the change between the first two figures, then apply it to the third.
• Rotation, reflection and matching: Approach: mark a distinctive corner and follow it; rotation keeps the order of elements, a mirror image reverses it.
• Folding and cubes: Approach: learn the opposite-faces rule for cube nets, and rule out any option that puts two opposite faces side by side.

How to spend 125 minutes

• Average: about 62 seconds per question. Split evenly, every 24 questions take about 25 minutes.
• Quick questions: verbal analogies, contextual errors and odd-figure-out usually need under half a minute, so do not linger on them.
• Long questions: reading passages, data analysis and ordering or assignment puzzles can take two minutes; that is where the time you saved goes.
• Do not get stuck: if two minutes pass without progress, move on; one question is not worth the time of three.

Study tips

• Start with a full mock exam: 120 questions in 2 hours 5 minutes, so you know your weakest component before you plan your study time.
• Give the new components more time: critical thinking, logic and figures are not in the high-school Qudurat test, so even if you prepared for that test, these are new to you.
• Quantitative without a calculator: percentages, fractions, quick rounding and reading tables.
• Verbal through daily review: formal Arabic vocabulary and word relations improve with steady review more than with cramming a few days before the test.
• Practise on screen: the test is computer-based only, so sit full mock exams on a computer in the last two weeks.
• Know your target: find the minimum your programme requires and aim above it with a margin.

How this site helps

• Free questions across the five components (verbal, quantitative, critical thinking, figures and logic) and their question types, with an explanation for every answer.
• 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 and do not predict your test score, but they show you where you need more review.