TestAS key terms

Standardised aptitude test for international applicants to German universities. It measures general academic ability and subject-related thinking rather than school knowledge, and is offered in German or English at test centres worldwide.

Compulsory core module of TestAS taken by all candidates. It contains figure-based reasoning tasks on completing sequences, finding similarities, doing calculations, and reading diagrams, plus a short language-use section.

Subject-specific module chosen according to the intended field of study. Options include humanities, engineering, mathematics/informatics/natural sciences, and economics, each testing discipline-typical reasoning with a fixed time limit.

Series of abstract figures changing by a rule such as rotation, addition of elements, or alternation. The candidate identifies the rule and selects the figure that continues the series correctly.

Tasks presenting a pair of figures related by a transformation, asking for the figure that relates to a third figure in the same way. They test recognition of structural relationships rather than verbal knowledge.

Task in which data are given as a chart or table and must be interpreted quickly. Typical demands are reading values, comparing categories, estimating proportions, and drawing a single justified conclusion.

Ability to detect regularities, symmetries, and repeating structures in visual or numerical material. It underlies most core-test items, where the rule must be found before the correct option can be chosen.

Property of a task in which changes follow a consistent, describable rule. Candidates should state the rule to themselves in one sentence and check that it holds for every element before answering.

Short section of the core test assessing command of German or English vocabulary, grammar, and idiom. Items require choosing the word or phrase that fits a sentence correctly.

Reading comprehension of short academic or journalistic texts. Candidates must identify main statements, distinguish supporting detail from opinion, and answer questions without relying on outside knowledge.

Working with numbers, percentages, ratios, and averages inside word problems. Success depends on setting up the calculation correctly and estimating rather than computing every digit precisely.

Drawing only the conclusions that necessarily follow from the given premises. In TestAS items, plausible but unstated assumptions are wrong; the correct answer must be fully supported by the text.

Structured reading that identifies claim, evidence, and conclusion in a passage. It is central to humanities and social-science modules, where arguments must be evaluated for consistency and relevance.

Explaining the meaning of a text, image, or data set by relating its parts to a larger context. Answers must be grounded in the material given, not in personal opinion or general knowledge.

Describing and explaining a graph or chart: reading axes and units, naming trends, comparing values, and noting limits of what the data can show. Common in economics and social-science modules.

Subject module for engineering applicants. It tests understanding of technical relationships, spatial reasoning with components, and physical-technical thinking such as forces, motion, and simple circuits.

Ability to reason about how devices and mechanisms behave, including levers, gears, pulleys, and fluid systems, without memorised formulas. Items usually ask for a qualitative prediction.

Mental rotation and folding of three-dimensional objects, such as deciding which cube can be built from a given net. Practising with paper models or rotation apps improves speed noticeably.

Applying basic principles of mechanics, energy, and electricity to everyday situations. The emphasis is on proportional reasoning and plausibility checks rather than on detailed calculation.

Subject module for applicants to mathematics, computer science, or natural-science degrees. It combines formal reasoning, pattern completion in symbolic systems, and analysis of scientific data.

Reasoning with symbols, rules, and abstract structures independently of their meaning. Tasks include completing number series, applying operators, and checking logical consistency of statements.

Extracting the relevant facts from a dense description of a technical or scientific situation and using only those facts to answer. Irrelevant detail is deliberately included as a distractor.

Subject module for business and economics applicants. It covers relationships in markets, cost and revenue reasoning, and interpretation of economic data and simple business cases.

Ratios such as margin, return, productivity, or break-even quantity used to judge a firm's situation. Candidates should know what each ratio expresses and how a change in inputs affects it.

Subject module for humanities and social-science applicants. It asks for careful reading of argumentative texts, recognition of underlying assumptions, and evaluation of whether evidence supports a claim.

Preparatory college in Germany for applicants whose school-leaving certificate is not directly recognised. TestAS is often required for entry, and its result can substitute for part of the assessment examination.

Formal eligibility to enter a German university. For international applicants it is assessed by recognising the foreign certificate, sometimes combined with TestAS results or a preparatory year.

Position of a candidate's score relative to the comparison group, expressed as the percentage scoring lower. A percentile rank of 80 means the result is above 80 percent of test takers.

Standardised score that makes results from different modules comparable by fixing the mean and spread of the scale. It is reported alongside the raw score and the percentile rank.

Reference group of test takers used to convert raw scores into percentile ranks and standard values. Results are only meaningful in relation to this group and its composition.

Planning how to spend the fixed minutes per module, including skipping a hard item and returning later. Because no points are deducted for wrong answers, every item should be answered before time ends.

Incorrect answer option designed to attract candidates who made a typical mistake or assumed something not stated. Recognising the trap is often faster than deriving the correct answer from scratch.

Item format with several answer options of which one is correct. In TestAS, wrong answers are not penalised, so guessing is rational when time is short and an option can be excluded.

Sample question published in official TestAS preparation material. Working through these under timed conditions shows the real item style and reveals which module needs more practice.

General ability tested across modules, such as logical reasoning, quantitative literacy, and accurate reading. These matter more for the score than memorised subject content.

Sequence of numbers following an arithmetic, geometric, or alternating rule. The candidate finds the rule and supplies the next value, often by checking differences or ratios between terms.

Property of a set of statements that can all be true at the same time. Items ask which statement contradicts the others or which conclusion is compatible with all given premises.

Set of abilities a degree programme demands, used by universities to decide whether a TestAS result supports admission. A strong module score matters most where it matches the subject.

Official location where TestAS is administered under supervised conditions. Candidates register online, choose language and module, and receive results digitally some weeks after the test date.