The Thinking Skills Assessment ( TSA ) is a generic admissions test , which is used as part of the admissions process for entry to some undergraduate courses at the University of Cambridge , the University of Oxford , Hanoi University of Science and Technology , and formerly, University College London .
31-425: TSA was developed and is run by Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing . It was developed to help universities assess whether applicants have the skills and aptitudes considered essential for Higher Education study. Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing produces and distributes practice materials, including specimen questions and past papers, on their website. The test was first introduced for undergraduate entry to
62-559: A broad programme of research to ensure the fairness and validity of its admissions tests for university admissions. It purpose is to gather evidence to demonstrate that the admissions tests make a useful contribution to the admissions process. BMAT is used by universities in the UK and overseas for entry to Medicine, Biomedical Science and Dentistry courses. IMAT is used by a number of Italian universities for entry to English language-taught Medicine, Surgery and related degree courses. The test
93-666: A grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York , a foundation itself established "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding". Although the Carnegie grants were to benefit the people of the United States, a small percentage of the funds could be used for the same purpose in countries that were or had been members of the British Commonwealth. The grant to establish ACER
124-454: A range of testing and assessment services and conducts research and analysis in the education sector. On 1 April 1930, two staff members, Ken Cunningham, the inaugural chief executive and secretary Mary Campbell, established ACER's first office in two rooms of the T&;G building in central Melbourne . By the end of the 1930s ACER's total staff had expanded to five. ACER was established with
155-480: Is an independent, not-for-profit organisation funded through contract work, fees for services and product sales. It has 500 staff working in its offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cyberjaya, Dubai, Jakarta, London, Melbourne, New Delhi, Perth and Sydney. After an early focus on Australian education, ACER now provides a range of services for an expanding number of international clients. ACER has official partnership with
186-469: Is delivered and marked internally. TSA consists of one or two sections, depending on the university and course being applied for. Section 2 is used in addition to Section 1 by the University of Oxford for certain courses. The multiple-choice answers (Section 1) are marked by Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing with 1 mark available per question. Final scores are calculated to one decimal place on
217-586: Is part of Cambridge Assessment , a not-for-profit department of the University of Cambridge . 2021 - Cambridge Assessment merged with another non-teaching department of the same university, Cambridge University Press . 2022 - University College London (UCL) withdraws from using TSA and replaces it with an internal Thinking Skills Test (TST) 2023 - Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing announces it will withdraw from running any admissions tests from 2024. Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing conducts
248-518: Is taken in November, and is used as the basis for conditional offers. Durham University , Lancaster University , the University of Warwick , the University of Sheffield and the University of Southampton encourage applicants to their Mathematics courses to take the test. Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing delivers pre-interview assessments for the following University of Cambridge courses: Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing administers
279-680: Is used in healthcare education and employment and in higher education and schools. The assessment was developed over four years of research and trialling with general and vocational higher education (including medicine, nursing and healthcare institutions). Australian Council for Educational Research The Australian Council for Educational Research ( ACER ), established in 1930, is an independent educational research organisation based in Camberwell, Victoria (Melbourne) and with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cyberjaya, Dubai, Jakarta, London, New Delhi, Perth and Sydney. ACER develops and manages
310-816: The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement 's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study . ACER has been involved in many other significant international studies and is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) which links educational research organisations across
341-468: The University of Cambridge in 2001 and was used as part of the admissions process for a number of undergraduate courses. It is currently used for application to the Land Economy course only. In 2007, the University of Oxford introduced TSA as part of its admissions process for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). At this stage, the test was known as the ‘PPE Admissions Test’. The use of TSA
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#1732780423466372-536: The University of Warwick . It is used by the University of Cambridge as the basis for conditional offers, and is taken in June for admission in October. Other UK universities may take STEP results into account when making offers for their Mathematics courses. The Test of Mathematics for University Admission is a test of mathematical thinking and reasoning. It is assessed through two 75 minute multiple-choice papers. It
403-557: The ASEAN region, in collaboration with the South East Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) and UNICEF. ACER research covers: Some of ACER's work is conducted through its strategic research centres: Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre and Centre for School and System Improvement. ACER's research work has contributed to policy pertaining to Australian education, including learning progressions,
434-496: The Admissions Testing Service) provides admissions tests for a range of university level courses and assessments in thinking skills and behavioural styles. It is part of Cambridge Assessment , a not-for-profit department of the University of Cambridge , England . It stopped delivering admissions tests at the end of 2023, thus effectively ceasing operations. 2001 - The Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
465-517: The TSA scale (running approximately 0–100) using the Rasch statistical technique. The writing task component of TSA (Section 2) used by the University of Oxford is reviewed by admissions tutors. An average score is about 60, so around 28 out of 50 raw marks. If you score 70 or above, you will find yourself in the top 10 of candidates – this equates to about 38 out 50. For the University of Cambridge and
496-557: The UK, it is used by the University of Cambridge , University of Oxford and University College London (UCL). It is also used by Stockholm School of Economics , Sweden and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Malaysia . The TSA exam is scored on a scale from 0 to 100 using the " Rasch Model ". Cambridge Personal Styles Questionnaire (CPSQ) assess behavioural styles - how people approach tasks and interact with others. This includes thinking and learning, motivation, self-management, resilience and interpersonal values and attitudes. It
527-718: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ACER collaborates with UNESCO through the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the UNESCO Office in Bangkok on initiatives such as the development of learning assessments for reading and mathematics, and associated tools and methodologies, that countries can use to monitor learning outcomes to inform educational policy. ACER also works with organisations such as UNICEF,
558-720: The University of Oxford tests – starting with the History Aptitude Test (HAT) and the Physics Aptitude Test (PAT) 2016 onwards - assisting with the development and delivery of the University of Cambridge pre-interview assessments. 2011 - unit name changed from "Thinking Skills Admissions Testing" to "the Admissions Testing Service" 2017 - name changed to Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing in January 2017, making clear it
589-550: The University of Oxford, TSA is held in late October/early November as a pre-interview, paper-based test taken at schools, colleges or authorised test centres globally. Results are issued in mid-January of the following year, via Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing’s results online portal . The exact use of results varies between the subjects which use the test, and candidates need to refer to their chosen course for precise details. Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing (formerly
620-864: The World Bank, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education and the United Kingdom Department for International Development, contributing to educational evaluation and reform in a number of countries. ACER is involved in the South East Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) project, which assesses reading, writing, maths and global citizenship in Grade 5 students in
651-604: The development and implementation of the PISA 2025 across more than 90 countries and economies, working with partners TAO, cApStAn and HallStat. ACER was engaged by the OECD to lead the first ever Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) and to develop all of the new literacy tasks for the Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies. ACER is also responsible for co-ordinating Australia's participation in
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#1732780423466682-575: The first BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT). 2004 - interest in fair admissions to higher education was fuelled by a UK government funded review - "the Schwartz Report". This led to a collaboration between TSAT and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the development of uniTEST. uniTEST explored if a single test could be used for admission to a broad range of courses and higher education institutions. uniTEST
713-455: The following admissions tests for the University of Oxford : TSA is used for entry to a wide range of undergraduate university courses, including: Economics and Management, Engineering, Land Economy, Human Sciences, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), Psychology and Philosophy. It assesses whether applicants have the critical thinking and problem-solving skills which universities consider to be essential for success in higher education. In
744-713: The region. In addition to research, ACER administers testing programs for scholarship selection, university entrance, psychologists and human resource management, some of which are delivered online. Tests, books and other materials are also published and sold through ACER Press for the education, psychology, human resources, special needs and speech pathology markets. ACER offers a Masters-level unit in Understanding Rasch Measurement Theory. ACER also manages an annual research conference held in Australia each year. ACER develops or administers
775-464: The role of parents, the role of arts in education, teachers and school leaders, post-school education and training, tertiary students' engagement to equity in education. A consortium led by ACER coordinated the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment of reading, mathematics and science, from 1997 until 2015. The OECD appointed ACER to lead
806-417: The same from 2017. From 2018, the University of Oxford no longer required applicants to take TSA for entry to their Geography course. From 2008 to 2021, University College London used TSA to assist in the selection of applicants to European and International Social and Political Studies (EISPS). From 2022 onwards, UCL replaced TSA with its own Thinking Skills Test (TST), which is modelled on TSA Section 1 but
837-548: Was developed in conjunction with the Italian Ministry of Education . It is currently taken in September for admission in October. ELAT is used for entry to English Literature courses at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge . It is taken in late October/early November for admission the following October. STEP is used for entry to Mathematics courses at the University of Cambridge and
868-413: Was extended for entry to Economics and Management in 2008; to Experimental Psychology, and Psychology and Philosophy in 2009, Geography, Philosophy and Linguistics, and Psychology and Linguistics in 2012, and in 2015 to Human Sciences. Since 2016, candidates applying for Chemistry have been required to sit a version of TSA consisting of Section 1 of the test only (TSA S1), with History and Economics requiring
899-750: Was introduced by some Australian universities, but there was relatively little demand in the UK. 2006 - the English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT) was introduced in the 2007–08 undergraduate admissions cycle for the Faculty of English at the University of Oxford . 2007 - In 2007, the University of Oxford introduces TSA as part of its admissions process for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) 2008 - University College London (UCL) introduces TSA as part of its admissions process for European and International Social and Political Studies (EISPS) 2011 onwards - administering
930-580: Was introduced for entry to a range of undergraduate courses at the University of Cambridge . 2003 - BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) introduced 2004 - a dedicated unit was formally set up within Cambridge Assessment , with responsibility for developing and administering admissions tests. The Thinking Skills Admissions Testing (TSAT) unit was responsible for administering the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) and
961-758: Was made following a visit to Australia by American James Russell on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation to assess the state of education in Australia and investigate appropriate means of assistance. The official title 'Australian Educational Research Council' was first selected, but then changed at the first council meeting held in 1930 to Australian Council for Educational Research, which has not changed again since. CEO ACER India: Amit Kaushik Director ACER Indonesia: Mariam Kartikatresni Country Manager ACER Malaysia: Kris Sundarsagar CEO ACER UAE: Alan Egbert CEO ACER UK: Colin Watson ACER