⚠️ The five-indicator (五標) figures below are historical reference data from the 2026 (115) academic year — not an official real-time scoring method, and not indicative of this year's or future five-indicator values or admission requirements. Always check the College Entrance Examination Center (CEEC) for the latest published data.
University placement reference (5-subject total bands)
Rough total-score bands (5 subjects, max 75) summarized from past placement-analysis data, matched live against your total above. Note: since the 111 academic year most programmes count at most 4 subjects — actual placement depends on each programme's subject combination; treat this as a rough first look.
| 5-subject total | Institution tier | Typical placement |
|---|
GSAT five-indicator reference table
Data version: 2026 (115) academic year (published Feb 2026)
| Subject | Top (88th %ile) | Front (75th %ile) | Average (50th %ile) | Back (25th %ile) | Bottom (12th %ile) |
|---|
- Rough GSAT placement estimation
- Understanding your relative position among all candidates
- Comparing year-over-year five-indicator trends
How the GSAT is scored
Taiwan's General Scholastic Ability Test (學科能力測驗) reports each subject on a 15-level scale (級分) rather than a raw mark. Levels are derived from the raw score distribution for that subject in that year, so a level is a statement about where you sat relative to everyone who took the same paper — not an absolute mark.
That has a direct consequence: levels are not comparable across years or across subjects. A 13 in Mathematics one year and a 13 the next represent different raw performances if the papers differed in difficulty, and that is exactly what the level system is designed to absorb.
The five indicators (五標)
Each year the College Entrance Examination Center publishes five benchmark levels per subject, which is how applicants judge whether a score is competitive:
| Indicator | Percentile | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 頂標 (top) | 88th | Mean level of the top 12% of candidates |
| 前標 (front) | 75th | Mean level of the top 25% |
| 均標 (average) | 50th | Mean level of the top 50% |
| 後標 (rear) | 25th | Mean level of the top 75% |
| 底標 (bottom) | 12th | Mean level of the top 88% |
Programmes commonly express their screening requirements directly in these terms — "Mathematics 前標, English 均標" — rather than in raw levels, precisely because the indicators are recalculated each year and so stay meaningful as the papers change.
Most programmes count at most four subjects
Since the 111 academic year, the 個人申請 route limits programmes to counting a maximum of four GSAT subjects for screening. The five-subject total the calculator above produces is therefore a rough orientation figure, not the number any programme actually uses.
In practice this makes subject selection as important as overall performance. A candidate strong in Mathematics and Science but weak in Social Studies may be highly competitive for engineering programmes that count four science-weighted subjects, while their five-subject total looks unremarkable. Check which four subjects your target programmes count before drawing conclusions from any total.
Worked example
A candidate scores: Chinese 12, English 13, Mathematics 15, Social Studies 10, Science 14.
Five-subject total: 64. But for an engineering programme counting only Chinese, English, Mathematics and Science, the relevant total is 12 + 13 + 15 + 14 = 54 out of a possible 60 — a far stronger position than the five-subject figure suggests, because the weakest subject simply does not count.
What the placement bands mean
The band table gives approximate historical ranges on the five-subject total: around 55+ has broadly been NTU, NTHU, NYCU and NCKU territory, with 60+ generally needed for Medicine, Dentistry and the most competitive NTU programmes.
These are rough references synthesised from public sources, not official figures. Because most programmes count four subjects rather than five, and because each programme sets its own screening thresholds and weightings, treat the bands as a sanity check on whether you are in the right region — nothing more.
The GSAT is one route among several
Taiwanese admissions run through multiple channels, and the GSAT feeds them differently:
- 繁星推薦 — recommendation based on in-school ranking, with GSAT results used as a threshold.
- 個人申請 — the main route: GSAT screening followed by a second stage of interviews, portfolios or written tests, where the second stage often carries at least half the weight.
- 分發入學 — placement by the 分科測驗 (AST), a separate examination taken later.
Because 個人申請 puts substantial weight on the second stage, a strong GSAT gets you considered rather than admitted.
Common mistakes
- Comparing levels across years. Use the five indicators for that year, which are designed to be comparable; raw levels are not.
- Optimising the five-subject total. Work out which four subjects your targets count and optimise those.
- Treating the screening threshold as the admission bar. Passing 篩選 means you proceed to the second stage, where most of the differentiation happens.
- Ignoring 檢定 requirements. Many programmes set minimum indicator levels in specific subjects that a strong total cannot compensate for.
Check the official sources
- College Entrance Examination Center (大學入學考試中心) — the official five-indicator figures and level distributions for each year.
- 大學招生委員會聯合會 — admission route rules and programme requirements.
- Each university publishes its own screening criteria and weightings per programme.
The percentile mathematics underlying the level system is covered on the normal distribution page. This site is not affiliated with the CEEC or any Taiwanese university.