Why it is beneficial to measure an applicant’s academic readiness for university
There is an expectation gap between high school and university life, which arises from differences in academic expectations and the level of independence required at university. First-year students often find themselves unprepared and ill-equipped for the different academic demands and greater autonomy that they face.
This was evident in an address by Ms Tatiana Sango (right), Test Development Coordinator at the University of Cape Town (UCT), when addressing Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice (CoP) for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (TLM) at the body’s first sitting on 9 April.
Sango, who presented an analysis of the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) for the current 2025 student cohort, said: “What does this mean for students’ future? Does it mean they will struggle in their first year at university? Nationally, only 32% of students at South African universities finish in regulation time (DHET: Post-school Education and Training Monitor, 2024). We are responsible for informing high school learners whether they are prepared for university and their chosen course of study.”
The NBTs – administered by the Centre for Educational Testing for Access and Placement (CETAP) on behalf of Universities South Africa (USAf) – are assessments for first-year applicants into higher education institutions and were designed to measure a student’s ability to transfer understanding of Academic Literacy (AL), Quantitative Literacy (QL) and Mathematics (MAT) to the demands of tertiary coursework. They were introduced in South Africa in 2005 by Higher Education South Africa (HESA) and complement the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results. The NBTs are often used by universities to support placement decisions.
“The primary purpose of the NBT is to promote student success in higher education through the assessment of an applicant’s academic readiness for university,” emphasised Sango.
She explained that AL examines the student’s capacity to engage successfully with the demands of academic study in the medium of instruction within the context of higher education; QL, which is also part of the same multi-choice test, looks at the student’s ability to manage situations or solve problems of quantitative nature in real contexts of higher education and MAT explores students’ depth of understanding and knowledge relevant to mathematically demanding disciplines within the context of the NSC curriculum. Tests are explicitly designed to probe higher education competencies.
Sango described the difference between the NSCs and the NBTs: “In respect of each subject, the former looks at what extent has a Grade 12 student met the Curriculum Statement expectations as expressed in the Subject Assessment Guidelines. The NBT, in respect of each domain, examines to what extent a school-leaver applying to university is prepared for the core AL, QL and MAT demands of higher education study.”
She said some students may be doing well at school but score low marks in NBTs.
“Often Grade 12 learners familiar with the way questions are asked at school suddenly find questions posed in a dissimilar way, which they don’t always comprehend. Often, students who write the MAT multiple-choice test say that, while the test itself is not necessarily difficult, the way the questions are asked is different. This is their first preview of what might be coming when they start first-year mathematics,” she explained.
“In general, the NBT benchmark performance proficiency level for degrees starts at about 70% and up for Al, QL and mathematics, and for diploma and higher certificates at around 60%. The basic cutoff of 35% is the top indicator for a degree and 30% for the diploma high certificate,” she said.
The NBTs provide additional information to:
Help make decisions about an applicant’s access to university.
- NBT results are used in addition to, and do not replace school leaving academic performance and exam results.
- For certain faculties (for example Health Sciences), NBT results make up a specific proportion of an overall admission score.
- NBT results may be used as an indicator of eligibility for an early offer (in addition to the Grade 11 results) or an Entrance Scholarship.
Guide placement within the university.
- May guide recommendations for additional support, augmented courses or extended degree programmes.
Help develop curricula within the universities.
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- NBT scores for the cohort allow teaching to be responsive to student needs and guide and inform curricular changes.
Sango said there are huge financial and emotional costs when students drop out of university or take much longer than the regulation time to complete their degrees, and this needs to be addressed.
Sango then unpacked the results of the 2025 applicants to Higher Education (HE) who wrote the NBTs.
Under 29% were judged proficient according to their AL tests; 11.5% for QL and 13% for MAT.
She reiterated that these are not actual students but applicants, meaning that a percentage of them would have ended up at university.
Sango then examined the data relating to an applicant’s choice of intended faculty of study.
She focused on those looking to enter education and engineering faculties as examples: “Those who wrote the MAT test and were looking for a place in an education faculty were probably intending to go into a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field. Five percent were AL proficient while 1% were QL and MAT proficient. They placed between 67 and 79% in the three basic benchmark categories. If you look at those who wanted to pursue engineering as a degree, 15% were in the proficient category in the MAT test.
“These results demonstrate that there is a mismatch of expectations,” she said. “If they ,end up in the system, do they do well in their chosen studies?”
Of the 51048 who wrote the 2025 Academic Quantitative Literacy (AQL) tests, Gauteng, the Western Cape and online (provinces where the applicants reside were not identified) each had 20% of candidates followed by Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) with 13%, Limpopo 9%, Eastern Cape 8% and Free State 5%. On the other side of the scale were Mpumalanga with 2% and Northern Cape and North West Province with 1% each. International and other African countries made up the remaining 1%.
The results were similar in the 2025 MAT tests. Of the 40 094 candidates, 21% were from Gauteng, 20% online and 16% from the Western Cape. This was followed by KZN 14%, Limpopo 11%, Eastern Cape 8%, Free State 5%, Mpumalanga 2% and Northern Cape, North West Province and international and other African countries with 1% each.
“We can see that there is a difference between the provincial preparedness level, particularly when looking at results between basic and proficient competencies. Gauteng and Western Cape lead the way, even though the picture is changing. KZN also did well in AL,” said Sango.
“There is an urgency, and a responsibility, for us to tell learners whether or not they are prepared for first-year university and the fields of study they wish to pursue. Whether the institution they are applying to requires an NBT or not, it is an opportunity for them to know how they have done. It gives them a window of opportunity to prepare better, to think more deeply about the future and decide whether they should seek help from day one if they are accepted into an institute of higher learning. This helps address some adjustments students must make to become top learners.”
Mr Sboniso Mzulwini (left), a Mathematics Lecturer from Nelson Mandela University (NM), agreed that high school learners who wanted to further their education should be encouraged to take the NBT, recalling his test in 2012.
“I got very high marks in mathematics in high school, but my results were lower in the NBTs. It was an excellent tool to address the potential challenges I would face in my first year of university. It gave me an insight into what was coming and allowed me to prepare for it.”
Janine Greenleaf Walker is a contract writer for Universities South Africa.
