🌍 Accepted By

No single fixed 'accepted university' count — YKS is the national placement mechanism for higher-education programs in Türkiye, with available programs and quotas published annually through ÖSYM's placement materials

👤 Who Should Take This Exam?

Candidates who have completed or are in their final year of high school and are seeking admission to an undergraduate higher-education program in Türkiye are the intended test-takers. This matters because YKS is essentially the sole gateway into Turkish public and private universities, meaning nearly every university-bound student in the country sits some portion of the exam each year. Students must choose which sessions to take (TYT alone, or TYT plus AYT and/or YDT) based on their intended field of study, since AYT is required for most four-year degree programs while some vocational and associate-degree programs only require the TYT score. Turkish citizens, Blue Card holders, and certain foreign nationals with residency permits are all eligible, but most international students applying from abroad use separate foreign-student admission exams rather than YKS.

🎓 Education Level

🌍 Accepted In

Türkiye

📑 Section Details

TYT (Temel Yeterlilik Testi, or Basic Proficiency Test) covers core subjects common to all students, including Turkish, mathematics, science, and social studies, and its score alone is sufficient for admission to two-year associate degree programs. AYT (Alan Yeterlilik Testi, or Field Proficiency Test) covers advanced, discipline-specific topics in areas such as literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and social sciences, and is required for admission to almost all four-year bachelor's degree programs. YDT (Yabancı Dil Testi, or Foreign Language Test) evaluates foreign-language proficiency and is only relevant for students applying to language-based programs such as foreign language teaching or translation studies. Because AYT questions are more specialized, students typically sit only the field-specific AYT booklet that matches their intended university major rather than every AYT subject.

How Scoring Works

Scores are calculated using a net formula where four incorrect answers remove one correct answer. The raw scores are then standardized and converted to a 100-500 scale.

🏆 Minimum Scores for Top Universities

Candidates must achieve a calculated net score of at least 0.5 in the relevant sections to be eligible for placement consideration in that category, meaning an absence of correct answers effectively disqualifies a candidate from that placement track. This minimal net requirement matters less than it might seem, however, because Türkiye abolished the old fixed baraj (threshold) scores of 150 and 180 points in 2022, meaning there is no longer a single pass/fail cutoff for four-year degree eligibility beyond this basic net requirement. In practice, the real determining factor for admission is a candidate's relative rank compared to all other applicants for a given program, since Turkish universities admit strictly by ranked preference order rather than by a fixed score cutoff. Highly competitive programs such as medicine at top universities can effectively require candidates to rank within the top tens of thousands nationally, even though there is no separate published numeric pass mark for that program.

All Sub-Scores

Yes

See all ▾

10

See all ▾

830

📆 Available Months

✅ What to Bring

🚫 Prohibited Items

📋 Exam Day Rules

No electronic devices, no watches, no jewelry, and no personal stationery. Doors close exactly 15 minutes before the exam start time.

💡 Top Tips & Tricks

🔍 Insider Tips

⭐ Unique Features

YKS includes a fully centralized preference-and-placement system in which candidates rank a set number of degree programs in order of preference, and a national algorithm places each student into the highest-ranked program their score and ranking qualify them for. This matters because it removes the need for students to apply separately to each university, but it also means a single point difference in score can shift a candidate from their top-choice program to one much further down their preference list. The exam itself is split across separate testing days, with the Basic Proficiency Test (TYT) held first and the Field Proficiency Test (AYT) and Foreign Language Test (YDT) held afterward, giving students a short recovery period between the more general and more specialized sections. High school GPA is also blended into the final placement score for many programs via a standardized diploma grade metric, meaning consistent academic performance across secondary school contributes to university placement outcomes, not just performance on exam day.

🎓 How This Score Impacts Your Application

This is the primary and often sole factor for university placement in Turkey. It determines both the university and the specific department a student can enter.