Standardized Test Abbreviations
106 abbreviations · part of Education & Academic Abbreviations
Abbreviations for standardized tests used in college and graduate admissions, high school equivalency, professional licensing, English-language proficiency and K-12 accountability, plus major exams from the UK, India and other countries. Entries name the organization behind each test, its score scale and format, and recent changes such as the digital SAT (2024), the shorter GRE (2023), the GMAT Focus Edition and the enhanced ACT (2025). Requirements change often, so applicants should confirm current policies with each school or licensing board.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A level | Advanced Level | Two-year subject qualification taken at about ages 16 to 18 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in many international schools, serving as the main basis for… |
| ACCESS | Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners | Annual English language proficiency test, ACCESS for ELLs, given to English learners in grades K to 12 in the states and territories that belong to the WIDA consortium. |
| ACT | ACT (originally American College Testing) | College admission test accepted by virtually all US four-year colleges, scored from 1 to 36 in English, math, reading and an optional science section. |
| AFQT | Armed Forces Qualification Test | Percentile score from 1 to 99, derived from four ASVAB subtests (arithmetic reasoning, mathematics knowledge, word knowledge and paragraph comprehension), that… |
| AICE | Advanced International Certificate of Education | Cambridge International diploma, especially popular in Florida public high schools, earned by passing a mix of Cambridge AS and A level exams across mathematics and… |
| AP | Advanced Placement | College Board program of about 40 college-level courses taught in high schools, each ending in a May exam scored from 1 to 5. |
| AS level | Advanced Subsidiary level | Qualification equal in difficulty to the first year of an A level and covering roughly half its content. |
| ASVAB | Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery | Aptitude test taken by everyone enlisting in the US military, used both to determine eligibility and to match recruits to jobs. |
| ATAR | Australian Tertiary Admission Rank | Rank from 0 to 99.95 that Australian universities use to admit school leavers, calculated from final-year results by state admissions centers. |
| Bac | Baccalauréat | French national exam and diploma completing upper secondary school (lycée), usually taken at about age 18 and granting the right to enter university. |
| BMAT | BioMedical Admissions Test | Former Cambridge Assessment test for medicine, biomedical science and veterinary applicants at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and UCL… |
| CAASPP | California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress | California's statewide testing system, which includes the Smarter Balanced assessments in English language arts and mathematics for grades 3 to 8 and 11 and the… |
| CAE | Certificate in Advanced English | Cambridge English exam at advanced level (CEFR C1), now officially called C1 Advanced, accepted by many universities in the UK, Australia and elsewhere as proof of… |
| CASPer | Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics | Online situational judgment test from Acuity Insights in which applicants give typed and recorded responses to video and text scenarios about ethics, teamwork and… |
| CAT | Common Admission Test | Computer-based entrance exam conducted each November by one of the Indian Institutes of Management for admission to IIM MBA programs and hundreds of other Indian… |
| CBEST | California Basic Educational Skills Test | Test of reading, mathematics and writing that California uses to verify basic skills for teachers, substitutes and some other credential holders. |
| CBSE | Central Board of Secondary Education | National school board of India, under the Ministry of Education, that sets curricula and conducts Class 10 and Class 12 board exams for tens of thousands of affiliated… |
| CEFR | Common European Framework of Reference for Languages | Council of Europe framework, published in 2001, that describes language ability on six levels from A1 (beginner) through A2, B1, B2 and C1 to C2 (mastery). |
| CLEP | College-Level Examination Program | College Board program of 34 exams that let students earn college credit for knowledge gained outside the classroom, in subjects from American government to calculus. |
| CogAT | Cognitive Abilities Test | Group-administered reasoning test from Riverside Insights that measures verbal, quantitative and nonverbal reasoning from kindergarten through grade 12. |
| COMLEX | Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination | Three-level licensing exam series for osteopathic physicians, officially COMLEX-USA, administered by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME). |
| CPE | Certificate of Proficiency in English | Highest-level Cambridge English exam (CEFR C2), now officially called C2 Proficiency, showing English close to that of a highly educated native speaker. |
| CSET | California Subject Examinations for Teachers | Series of exams in which prospective California teachers show knowledge of the subjects they will teach, such as CSET: Multiple Subjects for elementary teachers or… |
| CUET | Common University Entrance Test | Computer-based entrance exam introduced in 2022 by India's National Testing Agency for undergraduate admission to central universities such as Delhi University… |
| DALF | Diplôme approfondi de langue française (Advanced Diploma in French Language) | Advanced counterpart of the DELF, certifying French at CEFR levels C1 and C2. |
| DAT | Dental Admission Test | Computer-based exam required for dental school admission in the US, administered by the American Dental Association. |
| DBQ | Document-based question | Essay question on AP US History, AP European History and AP World History that asks students to build an argument from seven historical documents plus outside knowledge. |
| DELE | Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera (Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language) | Official Spanish proficiency diplomas issued by Spain's Instituto Cervantes on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education, with exams at all six CEFR levels from A1 to… |
| DELF | Diplôme d'études en langue française (Diploma in French Language Studies) | Official French proficiency diploma from France's Ministry of Education, administered by France Éducation international, covering CEFR levels A1 to B2. |
| DET | Duolingo English Test | Online English proficiency test of about one hour that candidates take at home under webcam proctoring, scored from 10 to 160. |
| DIBELS | Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills | Set of one-minute reading measures, such as letter naming, phonemic segmentation, nonsense word reading and oral reading fluency, used to screen students in… |
| DSST | DANTES Subject Standardized Tests | Credit-by-exam program of about 30 tests in subjects such as business ethics, criminal justice, personal finance and the history of the Vietnam War, now administered by… |
| EA | Executive Assessment | Ninety-minute admissions test from GMAC designed for executive MBA and other programs for experienced professionals, with integrated reasoning, verbal and quantitative… |
| ELPAC | English Language Proficiency Assessments for California | California's test for identifying and monitoring English learners, given as the Initial ELPAC when a student with a home language other than English first enrolls and… |
| EPPP | Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology | Multiple-choice licensing exam for psychologists in the US and Canada, developed by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB). |
| FAST | Florida Assessment of Student Thinking | Florida's progress-monitoring assessment system, introduced in 2022-23 to replace the Florida Standards Assessments (FSA). |
| FCE | First Certificate in English | Cambridge English exam at upper-intermediate level (CEFR B2), officially renamed B2 First, covering reading and use of English, writing, listening and speaking. |
| FRQ | Free-response question | Question requiring a written or worked answer instead of a choice among options, especially in the second section of most Advanced Placement exams. |
| FTCE | Florida Teacher Certification Examinations | Exams Florida requires for teacher certification: the General Knowledge Test, the Professional Education Test and Subject Area Examinations in the field to be taught. |
| GATE | Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering | National exam in India for admission to master's and doctoral programs in engineering and science at the IITs, IISc and other institutions, organized in rotation by… |
| GCSE | General Certificate of Secondary Education | Subject qualifications taken by most students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland at about age 16, at the end of Year 11 in England. |
| GED | General Educational Development | High school equivalency credential earned by passing four computer-based tests, mathematical reasoning, reasoning through language arts, science and social studies… |
| GMAT | Graduate Management Admission Test | Business school admissions test owned by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). |
| GRE | Graduate Record Examinations | Graduate admissions test from ETS accepted by thousands of master's and doctoral programs and by many business and law schools. |
| HESI A2 | Health Education Systems Incorporated Admission Assessment | Nursing and allied-health entrance exam published by Elsevier, made up of modules such as math, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, anatomy and physiology… |
| HiSET | High School Equivalency Test | High school equivalency exam introduced by ETS in 2014 with five subtests, reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies, each scored from 1 to 20. |
| HSC | Higher School Certificate | Credential awarded to students who complete Year 12 in New South Wales, Australia, based on school assessments and statewide exams set by the NSW Education Standards… |
| HSK | Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (Chinese Proficiency Test) | Standardized test of Mandarin Chinese for non-native speakers, overseen by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation under China's Ministry of Education. |
| HSPT | High School Placement Test | Admission and placement test from Scholastic Testing Service used mainly by Catholic high schools for eighth graders. |
| IB | International Baccalaureate | Geneva-based foundation, founded in 1968, whose Diploma Programme for students aged 16 to 19 requires six subjects plus Theory of Knowledge, a 4,000-word Extended Essay… |
| ICSE | Indian Certificate of Secondary Education | Class 10 examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), a private national board in India known for its English-heavy… |
| IELTS | International English Language Testing System | English proficiency test jointly owned by the British Council, IDP Education and Cambridge University Press & Assessment, offered in Academic and General Training… |
| IGCSE | International General Certificate of Secondary Education | International version of the GCSE offered by Cambridge International Education and Pearson Edexcel, taken at about age 16 in more than 100 countries. |
| INBDE | Integrated National Board Dental Examination | Pass/fail licensing exam for US dentists, developed by the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations, that integrates biomedical science with clinical dentistry… |
| ISEE | Independent School Entrance Examination | Admission test for private and independent schools from grade 2 through grade 12, published by the Educational Records Bureau (ERB). |
| ITBS | Iowa Tests of Basic Skills | Achievement test series for grades K through 8, developed at the University of Iowa in 1935, that measures reading, language, mathematics, science and social studies. |
| JEE | Joint Entrance Examination | Two-stage engineering entrance exam in India: JEE Main, run by the National Testing Agency for admission to NITs and many other colleges, and JEE Advanced, run by the… |
| JLPT | Japanese-Language Proficiency Test | Japanese test for non-native speakers, run by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services and held each July and December in Japan and around the… |
| LEQ | Long essay question | AP history essay in which students pick one of three prompts covering different time periods and write an argument using their own evidence, without provided documents. |
| LNAT | National Admissions Test for Law | Aptitude test required by several UK universities for undergraduate law, including Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, King's College London and Durham. |
| LSAT | Law School Admission Test | Law school admissions test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) and scored from 120 to 180. |
| MAP | Measures of Academic Progress | Computer-adaptive assessment from NWEA, usually called MAP Growth, given in fall, winter and spring to track growth in reading, language usage, mathematics and science. |
| MAT | Miller Analogies Test | Former graduate admissions test of 120 analogy questions in 60 minutes, published by Pearson and accepted mainly by education and psychology programs as an alternative… |
| MCAS | Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System | Massachusetts statewide testing program, given since 1998, in English language arts, mathematics and science for grades 3 through 10. |
| MCAT | Medical College Admission Test | Computer-based exam required by nearly all US and Canadian medical schools, developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). |
| MCQ | Multiple-choice question | Test item that asks the examinee to choose the correct answer from a set of options, usually four or five, the format used in most standardized tests because answers… |
| NAEP | National Assessment of Educational Progress | Federal assessment, known as the Nation's Report Card, that tests representative samples of US students in grades 4, 8 and 12 in reading, mathematics and other subjects. |
| NAPLEX | North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination | Licensing exam for pharmacists, developed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), that tests the ability to apply pharmacotherapy knowledge safely. |
| NAVLE | North American Veterinary Licensing Examination | Licensing exam that graduates of veterinary schools must pass to practice in the US and Canada, administered by the International Council for Veterinary Assessment… |
| NCE | National Counselor Examination | Exam of 200 multiple-choice questions, 160 of them scored, from the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) that most US states use to license professional… |
| NCLEX-PN | National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses | Licensing exam for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (LPNs and LVNs), developed by the NCSBN and delivered as a computerized adaptive test. |
| NCLEX-RN | National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses | Computerized adaptive licensing exam that every US registered nurse must pass, developed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). |
| NEET | National Eligibility cum Entrance Test | Single nationwide entrance exam for undergraduate medical (MBBS), dental (BDS) and AYUSH courses in India, conducted by the National Testing Agency. |
| NNAT | Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test | Pearson ability test, developed by psychologist Jack Naglieri, that uses only shapes and geometric designs in progressive matrix puzzles. |
| NPTE | National Physical Therapy Examination | Licensing exam for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, developed by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT). |
| OAT | Optometry Admission Test | Computer-based exam required by optometry schools in the US and Canada, sponsored by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO). |
| OET | Occupational English Test | English test for health professionals, such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists, built on realistic clinical tasks like writing a referral letter and role-playing a… |
| OLSAT | Otis-Lennon School Ability Test | Pearson ability test of verbal and nonverbal reasoning for students from kindergarten through grade 12, used by many districts to identify gifted students. |
| PANCE | Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination | Five-hour, 300-question multiple-choice exam that graduates of accredited physician assistant programs must pass to earn certification from the NCCPA. |
| PARCC | Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers | Multistate consortium formed in 2010 with federal Race to the Top funding to create Common Core-aligned tests in English language arts and mathematics for grades 3 to 11. |
| PCAT | Pharmacy College Admission Test | Former Pearson exam for pharmacy school admission covering writing, biology, chemistry, critical reading and quantitative reasoning, scored from 200 to 600. |
| PIRLS | Progress in International Reading Literacy Study | IEA study of reading achievement among fourth graders, conducted every five years since 2001 in dozens of countries. |
| PISA | Programme for International Student Assessment | OECD survey that tests 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science every three years, with 81 countries and economies taking part in the 2022 round. |
| PSAT 10 | Preliminary SAT for tenth graders | Version of the PSAT/NMSQT given to sophomores, usually in the spring during the school day, with the same content, 320 to 1520 scale and digital adaptive format. |
| PSAT 8/9 | Preliminary SAT for grades 8 and 9 | Entry-level test in the College Board's SAT Suite, scored from 240 to 1440, that measures the same reading, writing and math skills as the SAT at a level suited to… |
| PSAT/NMSQT | Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test | Digital practice version of the SAT given each October mainly to high school juniors, scored from 320 to 1520. |
| PTE | Pearson Test of English | Computer-based English test from Pearson, best known as PTE Academic, scored from 10 to 90 and graded largely by automated scoring systems. |
| SAQ | Short-answer question | AP history question type that asks for three brief, specific responses about a source or historical development, each worth one point. |
| SAT | SAT (originally Scholastic Aptitude Test) | College admission test owned by the College Board and taken by roughly two million US students a year, scored from 400 to 1600 as the sum of a Reading and Writing… |
| SBAC | Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium | Multistate consortium, launched in 2010 with federal Race to the Top funding, that develops computer-adaptive tests in English language arts and math aligned to the… |
| SHSAT | Specialized High Schools Admissions Test | Exam that decides admission to eight of New York City's nine specialized public high schools, including Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. |
| SSAT | Secondary School Admission Test | Admission test for private middle and high schools published by The Enrollment Management Association, offered at Elementary, Middle and Upper levels. |
| SSC | Secondary School Certificate | Public examination taken at the end of Class 10 in Bangladesh, Pakistan and several Indian states, including Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, marking the completion of… |
| STAAR | State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness | Texas's state testing program since 2012, covering reading and math in grades 3 to 8, science and social studies in selected grades, and end-of-course exams in high… |
| TASC | Test Assessing Secondary Completion | High school equivalency exam created by CTB/McGraw-Hill, later owned by Data Recognition Corporation, and used by New York, Indiana and several other states from 2014… |
| TEAS | Test of Essential Academic Skills | Nursing school entrance exam from ATI Nursing Education with 170 questions in reading, mathematics, science, and English and language usage, taken in about three and a… |
| TExES | Texas Examinations of Educator Standards | Certification exams that Texas teachers, principals and other educators must pass, covering content areas and the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) exam. |
| TIMSS | Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study | International assessment of mathematics and science in grades 4 and 8, run every four years since 1995 by the International Association for the Evaluation of… |
| TOEFL | Test of English as a Foreign Language | English proficiency test from ETS accepted by more than 12,000 universities and agencies worldwide, most often taken as the TOEFL iBT. |
| TOEIC | Test of English for International Communication | ETS test of workplace English used by employers in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, France and other countries for hiring and promotion. |
| TOPIK | Test of Proficiency in Korean | Korean language exam for non-native speakers administered by South Korea's National Institute for International Education (NIIED). |
| TSI | Texas Success Initiative | Texas program that determines whether students entering public colleges and universities are ready for college-level reading, writing and math, using the TSI Assessment… |
| UCAT | University Clinical Aptitude Test | Computer-based admissions test used by most medical and dental schools in the UK and, as UCAT ANZ, by universities in Australia and New Zealand. |
| USMLE | United States Medical Licensing Examination | Three-step licensing exam series for physicians with an MD degree, sponsored by the Federation of State Medical Boards and the National Board of Medical Examiners. |
| WASSCE | West African Senior School Certificate Examination | Final secondary school exam conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia. |
| WISC | Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children | Individually administered intelligence test for children aged about 6 to 16, widely used in schools and clinics to identify learning disabilities and giftedness and to… |