Egypt Qudurat

Overview

"Qudurat" (القدرات, Arabic for "abilities" or "aptitudes") means something different in Egypt than it does in some other Arab countries. This is not a general verbal-and-quantitative reasoning test that every secondary student sits, the way Saudi Arabia's Qudurat (GAT) works. In Egypt, "aptitude tests" (اختبارات القدرات) are a set of separate, faculty-specific skill tests that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, together with individual university faculties, requires from secondary-certificate holders who want to apply to a handful of faculties where an academic percentage alone cannot show whether a candidate has the needed skill: Fine Arts, Applied Arts, Art Education, Music Education, and Physical/Sports Education.

These tests are not part of the Thanaweya Amma exam itself (see the separate page for that certificate) and are not sat by most students. They are an extra, faculty-specific gate layered on top of the secondary certificate, run every year right after the main secondary written exams finish and before the official secondary result is announced, through the same national online university-coordination ("tansiq") portal that later handles general admission.

Who can apply

• Students who hold Egypt's General Secondary Education Certificate (Thanaweya Amma) for the current year, and who intend to apply to one of the faculties that requires an aptitude test.

• A separate, later registration window is run each year for holders of equivalent certificates ("shahadat mu'adala"), including Al-Azhar's secondary certificate and recognised foreign certificates. For 2026 this window was 23 August - 2 September.

• A candidate registers and pays for the specific faculty test(s) they want to sit - there is no single uniform test that covers every faculty.

The sources used for this page describe eligibility only in terms of Thanaweya Amma and equivalent-certificate holders. Whether graduates of the newer Egyptian Baccalaureate will sit the same aptitude tests was not confirmed in these sources, since that certificate's first cohort has not yet reached its final year.

Exam pattern

The test's structure depends on which faculty it is for. Three broad groups are confirmed.

Fine Arts, Applied Arts and Art Education faculties

Covers the Faculties of Fine Arts, Faculties of Applied Arts (at several universities), and Art Education faculties such as the ones at Zamalek (Capital University) and Minya University. The test is a skills exam with two parts:

A candidate needs at least 60 out of the 100 marks to pass.

Music Education faculty

Covers the Faculty of Music Education at Zamalek (Capital University). The test is out of 100 marks and includes a rhythm component worth 30 marks, in which the candidate repeats a rhythm by clapping or tapping, plus further components based on listening to melodies. Prior knowledge of music notation or earlier music study is not required - the test is built to measure innate rhythm and listening aptitude rather than formal training. Each candidate's test takes roughly 10-15 minutes. A candidate needs at least 60% of the total to pass, and the outcome is reported as "fit" or "not fit" rather than only a raw mark.

Physical and Sports Education faculties

Covers the Faculties of Physical/Sports Education. The test runs in stages:

• A medical check (heart and general health), plus height and weight measurement and a posture check.

• The candidate then chooses one of two tracks: a general physical-readiness track, or a skill track for candidates already active in a sport.

• The physical-readiness track is marked out of 60 across six components: a 50-metre sprint, a numbered-circuit coordination test, a standing long jump, a shuttle run (agility), forward trunk flexion (flexibility), and a 600-metre run (endurance).

A candidate needs at least 60% on the physical or skill portion, and must also clear the medical check and measurement stages, to pass.

Across all three groups, the result a candidate receives is a pass/fail outcome - reported as "fit" (لائق) or "not fit" (غير لائق) - not a ranked score compared against other candidates.

Marking and results

Each faculty marks its own candidates and enters results directly into the electronic coordination portal; a result appears once the faculty approves it and sends it to the coordination office's database.

Passing a faculty's aptitude test only certifies that a candidate is eligible, or "fit," for that faculty - it does not by itself guarantee a seat. Admission into the faculty still runs through the normal national "tansiq" coordination process, which ranks only the candidates who passed that faculty's aptitude test by their Thanaweya Amma (or equivalent) percentage, against a cutoff the faculty sets fresh each year. For example, in 2026 first-stage coordination the reported cutoff for the Art Education faculty at Minya University was 170.50 out of 320 (53.28%), and for the Art Education faculty at Zamalek (Capital University) it was 160.00 out of 320 (50.00%).

To check a result, a candidate goes to the electronic coordination portal, selects the general-secondary services section, enters their seat number and national ID number plus the on-screen verification code, then views the result.

Important dates

For the 2026 cycle:

• Registration for Thanaweya Amma holders: 17 July - 6 August 2026, opening right after the secondary written exams finished and before the official secondary result was announced.

• Tests held at the faculties: starting 19 July 2026.

• Registration for equivalent-certificate holders (Al-Azhar secondary certificate, recognised foreign certificates): 23 August - 2 September 2026.

Exact windows are reset by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research every year, so confirm the current year's dates on the official coordination portal before registering.

How to apply

• Register and pay online only through the national electronic coordination portal; out-of-channel payment is not accepted.

• The 2026 registration fee was 800 Egyptian pounds per test, payable only through prepaid cards, credit cards, or approved electronic-collection outlets.

• For the physical/sports education test, documents reported as required include the candidate's seat number, an original and a copy of their national ID card, two personal photographs, the registration and fee-payment receipts, three copies of the basic-data form, and certificates of any approved local or international sporting championships.

• A candidate registers separately for the test tied to each faculty they are applying to.

After the exam

A pass ("fit") makes the candidate eligible to be considered for that faculty in the national "tansiq" coordination process - it does not reserve a seat. Seats are then allocated in the normal coordination rounds, which rank only the eligible candidates by their secondary-certificate percentage against that faculty's cutoff for the year. A candidate who does not pass a faculty's aptitude test cannot be placed into that faculty through coordination that year, whatever their overall secondary percentage.

Preparation tips

• Each faculty's test measures a different skill, so prepare for the specific faculty you are targeting rather than general exam revision - for example, timed sprint, endurance and flexibility practice for sports faculties, or drawing and design practice for art faculties.

• For music education, prior music theory or notation study is not required and does not raise the score; practising simple rhythm-repetition (clapping or tapping back a pattern) and careful listening matters more than formal music study.

• Register and pay within the official window on the coordination portal, and keep every receipt and document named for your target faculty - documents such as ID copies, photographs, and payment receipts are checked at the test venue.

• Because passing is only an eligibility gate, keep working to maximise your Thanaweya Amma (or equivalent) percentage - it is that percentage, not the aptitude-test score, that decides your place once you are found fit.