How the overall score and test scores work

Test scores

Each of the five tests gets a score between 0 and 100. Icfes presents it as a result that reflects your skill level in that test. So it's best not to read it as the percentage of questions you got right.

Icfes is also clear about something else: you don't pass or fail this exam. The report doesn't say "passed" or "failed"; it shows you scores, levels and percentiles so you know where you stand.

How the overall score is calculated

The overall score is a weighted average out of 500 points. Critical Reading, Mathematics, Social Studies and Citizenship and Natural Sciences have a weight of 3; English has a weight of 1.

It's divided by 13 because that's the sum of the weights (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 1). It's multiplied by 5 to go from a 100-point scale to a 500-point one.

A step-by-step example

Say you have these scores: Critical Reading 62, Mathematics 55, Social Studies 58, Natural Sciences 51 and English 70.

1. Add the four tests with a weight of 3 and multiply by 3: (62 + 55 + 58 + 51) × 3 = 226 × 3 = 678.
2. Add English: 678 + 70 = 748.
3. Divide by 13: 748 ÷ 13 ≈ 57.54.
4. Multiply by 5: 57.54 × 5 ≈ 288.

What the weighting means

One more point in any of the four tests with a weight of 3 adds about 1.15 points to the overall score. One more point in English adds about 0.38. In other words: raising Mathematics by 10 points moves the overall score about 11.5 points; raising English by 10, about 3.8.

That doesn't mean English doesn't matter. Some universities set their own weight for each area depending on the program, so English may count differently in your admission than in the overall score. But if your goal is the overall score, time spent on the four main tests pays off more.

Performance levels and percentiles

Besides the scores, the individual report includes two indicators:

• Performance levels. They describe the skills you showed in each test. Each test has its own levels, assigned by score ranges. Level 4 is the highest in Critical Reading, Mathematics, Social Studies and Natural Sciences; in English, which uses CEFR levels, the highest is B+. Being at a level means you also have the skills of the levels below it.
• Percentiles. They show the percentage of test takers who scored lower than you. A percentile of 70 means you did better than 70 % of the people who took the exam. There is a percentile for the overall score and for each test.

If you reported a disability other than a motor disability, or membership in an ethnic group, when registering, the report may show two percentiles: the national one and a differential one, calculated with people from your same group who took the same type of booklet.

The socioeconomic and school climate questionnaires don't affect any of these results.

Is there a minimum score to get into university?

There is no national minimum score. Each institution decides whether it uses Saber 11, how it uses it and what it requires, and those rules can change with each admission cycle. Three public universities show how different they can be:

• Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Admits students through its own admission test. You don't need Saber 11 to apply, but to enroll you must have a high school diploma and have taken the exam.
• Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS). Selects with Saber 11: each program weights the five areas its own way and places are assigned from the highest weighted score down. UIS clarifies that cutoff scores from previous cycles are not application or admission requirements.
• Universidad del Valle. In each admission cycle, its Academic Council sets the minimum scores to apply, the weight of each area and from which year results are accepted. Some programs add specific tests.

Look up the current admission call for the program you're interested in and check three things: which areas it weights, whether it requires a minimum to apply and from which year it accepts results. Cutoff scores from other semesters are a reference, not a guarantee.

Checking results and filing requests

Individual results are available on the Icfes results portal. In 2026 they were published on May 15 for Calendar B and on September 25 for Calendar A.

To log in you need the details you registered with. Have your ID and your registration number at hand; if you don't know it, Icfes has a registration number lookup for exams taken since 2005.

If you have a concern about your result, the official calendar sets a two-month window after publication to file requests with Icfes.