Admissions and entrance exams

Updated 29 October 2026

UKiset explained

For families in the UAE looking at UK independent or boarding schools: what UKiset tests, what the report shows, and how schools use it.

What UKiset is

UKiset was founded in 2013 by Gabbitas, a UK education consultancy, and developed in partnership with Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It is designed for students aged 9.5 to 18 who are applying to UK independent schools from abroad, and it is also used by some British-curriculum international schools. Instead of sitting a different entrance test for every school, your child takes UKiset once and the report goes to the schools you choose.

The three parts of the test

Calculators, phones and dictionaries are not allowed. Your child needs a pen, lined and scrap paper, and a printed copy of the essay template.

The report: what the scores mean

The parent report, emailed after the test, includes:

• Standardised scores for verbal, non-verbal and maths reasoning, compared with British students of the same age in state and independent schools.
• National Percentile Rank (NPR) for each section: where your child would come if 100 randomly chosen British children of the same age were ranked from 1st to 99th percentile.
• Stanine: a 1 to 9 band based on the NPR (9 is the highest).
• Two average scores, one with and one without the verbal section, so that a child still learning English is not judged only on vocabulary.
• An English level (CEFR) and raw score from the Cambridge Linguaskill test.

If you have seen a CAT4 report, the layout will look familiar: CAT4 also uses a standardised score, an NPR and a stanine. Our guide to CAT4 scores explains how percentiles and stanines work. Do not treat the two tests' numbers as the same thing, though: they are different tests.

Schools get a fuller school report: your child's handwritten essay, separate comparisons against national and independent-school students, predicted GCSE, A level and IB grades, and the optional self-introduction video.

How schools use UKiset

UKiset describes three common uses:

• As the whole entrance test, more often for younger applicants (Years 7 to 9).
• As a first filter at selective schools with many international applicants, followed by the school's own tests or an interview.
• To plan support once a child has joined.

There are no published pass marks. Always ask each school whether it accepts UKiset, what else it needs, and its deadlines. UKiset itself recommends checking that the school has places before applying.

Taking UKiset from the UAE

1. Register online. You upload your child's photo and passport, choose a preferred test date and, if you know them, the schools. What you enter is shared with those schools.
2. Video (optional): UKiset encourages a 1 to 2 minute self-introduction video about your child's interests and why they want to study in the UK. It is passed to schools.
3. Test day: online invigilation runs seven days a week (weekends cost extra). An invigilator joins by Microsoft Teams, checks the passport and watches through the computer and a second device. At the end, the essay is scanned and emailed.
4. Results: about 3 working days. The parent report comes to you; the school report goes to the schools you chose (up to five included, more for a fee). You can add schools later.

Check the current price and any test centre options on the UKiset website when you register.

Preparing

UKiset is a reasoning and English test, not a test of a particular curriculum. UKiset's own advice is to build English through regular reading, listening, speaking and writing on a range of topics, and to make sure your child is comfortable with maths questions, since the reasoning section includes mathematical reasoning. Practising a short handwritten essay in a set time is sensible too.

UKiset is one of several routes into UK independent schools. Many senior schools use the ISEB Pre-Tests instead or as well. For state grammar schools, see the 11+ from abroad.