Topic: University entrance exams: what you take, who runs it, and what else counts
How is it done in India?
Everyday topic
India's university entrance exams are run centrally by the National Testing Agency (NTA), under the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education, with a separate test for each field. For engineering, JEE Main is held twice a year (January and April); its score is used for admission to NITs, IIITs and GFTIs, and it also serves as the qualifying exam for JEE Advanced, which admits only to the IITs. For medicine, NEET UG runs once a year in May and is now the sole basis for admission to MBBS, BDS and other medical courses nationwide — individual college entrance tests were phased out. For general undergraduate programmes, CUET UG runs once a year (a window in May–June); around 48 central universities, including the University of Delhi, now admit students by CUET score alone, and Class 12 board marks are no longer counted in the final admission decision. The three exams don't overlap — applicants sit whichever matches their intended field.
What is this topic?
Taiwan sits its Scholastic Aptitude Test and Subject-Specific Test (both run by the CEEC) across three tracks with distinct rules: Application Admission caps the exam at half the final score, weighing the rest on portfolio and interview; Placement Admission ranks purely by exam score; and Star Recommendation goes on in-school class rank alone, no exam-based placement needed.
China runs the gaokao (coordinated nationally by the Ministry of Education, held every June 7–8) on a 750-point "3+1+2" structure, plus a separate 强基计划 that adds a campus test for basic-science talent.
Japan holds one national Common Test each January through the DNC, but national and public universities layer a second, university-run exam on top.
The United States has no national exam at all — the federal Department of Education has no authority over admissions — and the well-known SAT/ACT are private tests (College Board, ACT Inc.) that most selective schools weigh alongside GPA and essays; about 25% of four-year colleges had open admissions as of fall 2021.
India's National Testing Agency runs three separate exams by field: JEE Main (engineering, twice a year), NEET UG (medicine, once a year, now the sole basis for admission nationwide), and CUET UG (general undergraduate, once a year, already replacing Class 12 marks at roughly 48 central universities).
Indonesia's state universities split admission three ways — SNBP on report-card achievement (minimum 20% of seats), SNBT on the computer-based UTBK test (minimum 30–40%), and university-run Jalur Mandiri (up to 30–50%).
Brazil's ENEM, run once a year by INEP, feeds into SiSU for public-university places under a quota law, while state universities like USP and UNICAMP still run their own vestibular.
No two of the seven countries do it the same way — they differ in how many times a year, who administers it, and how much the score alone decides.
Sources and dates
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