How Did Students Perform in Kazakhstan’s 2026 University Entrance Exams?

A total of 233,000 applicants took the main Unified National Testing in 2026. Of these, 177,000, or 76% of participants, met the passing threshold, Orda.kz reports, citing the Ministry of Science.

As in previous years, applicants could take the UNT twice and use their best result to compete for educational grants. Together, 233,000 applicants took the test 422,000 times. For comparison, 210,000 people took the UNT 381,000 times in 2025.

The average score across five subjects was 69 points. Two students from Pavlodar Region and Kyzylorda Region received the maximum score of 140 points. Balkhan’s result followed the conversion of her KAZTEST results. Another 821 applicants scored more than 130 points.

The test was also taken by 800 applicants with special educational needs.

After the electronic exams, participants submitted more than 95,000 appeal requests. Following its review, the national commission approved appeals involving 152 individual test questions. Participants can access their certificates through their personal accounts, the ministry said.

Inspectors identified 890 rule violations during the UNT. Before the exam began, 522 applicants were denied entry after attempting to bring in smartphones, cheat sheets and other prohibited items. Another 361 people were removed from testing rooms during the exam, and their results were cancelled. Reviews of video recordings led to the cancellation of seven more results.

Original author: Alexander Smolin

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