Högskoleprovet
The Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test: a second way into university, alongside your grades.
Högskoleprovet tests the verbal and quantitative skills you need at university. Universities fill part of their places by högskoleprovet results, so a good score can get you in even if your grades aren't high enough.
Overview
Högskoleprovet gives people a second route into higher education in Sweden. When universities select applicants, part of the places are usually filled by grades and part by högskoleprovet results, so a strong score can make up for grades that were lower than you needed, or open a door if you left school long ago. Anyone can take it, as often as they like, and only the best result counts.
The test measures skills rather than school knowledge: understanding words, reading Swedish and English texts closely, and solving quantitative problems quickly and accurately. That means it rewards practice. Many people improve noticeably by working through old tests under real time limits, learning a few words every day for the vocabulary part and building a fast, careful method for the maths and diagram questions. Results are valid for eight years, so it can be worth taking the test early, before you know exactly which programme you want.
The eight parts
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ORD
Word knowledge: what words and expressions mean.
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LÄS
Reading comprehension in Swedish.
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MEK
Sentence completion: choosing the words that make a text whole.
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ELF
Reading comprehension in English.
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XYZ
Mathematical problem solving.
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KVA
Quantitative comparisons: which of two quantities is larger.
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NOG
Quantitative reasoning: whether you have enough information to answer.
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DTK
Diagrams, tables and maps.
How it's scored
The test day is made up of 55-minute sessions. One session is a trial that doesn't count, and you aren't told which. The verbal and quantitative halves are each normed to a score from 0.0 to 2.0, and your result is the average of the two. Norming means a score is equally hard to reach whichever test you took.
How to prepare
- Take old tests under real time limits: speed matters as much as knowledge.
- Learn words every day for ORD. It is the part that grows most with steady practice.
- Practise DTK and XYZ with a timer. Both reward a quick, careful method.
- Guess when you don't know: a wrong answer costs nothing.
Official pages
Dates, registration and fees change from year to year, so check them on the official pages.
