The Saudi national curriculum: stages, secondary pathways and national tests

Stages of Saudi general education

ETEC also offers optional formative tests in maths, science and Arabic for Grades 4 to 9, which some schools use.

The secondary pathways system

The Ministry of Education describes the pathways system as nine study terms over three years. The first year is common to all students and covers a range of scientific and humanities subjects. Students are then placed in a track for the two specialised years, based on criteria the Ministry sets, and a bridging system lets students transfer between tracks under defined rules.

Subjects in every track fall into four groups: general subjects common to all tracks, such as Arabic, Islamic studies and environmental science; specialised subjects shared by two or more tracks, such as engineering design in Health and Life and in Computer Science and Engineering, or law in Sharia and in Business Administration; subjects unique to one track, such as cybersecurity or human body systems; and electives for General track students.

The five tracks and where they lead

Track names from the Ministry of Education; the SAAT target groups by track are from ETEC. Universities set which tests and tracks each programme accepts.

How students are assessed

Within school, students are assessed through classwork, coursework and end of term exams in each subject, which build the secondary school average. Nationally, ETEC runs the Nafs tests each year for all students in Grade 3 (reading and maths), Grade 6 and Grade 9 (reading, maths and science). Nafs results are used to monitor and evaluate schools, including the accreditation of private and international schools, rather than to grade individual students.

For university, three numbers matter: the secondary school average, the General Aptitude Test (Qudurat) and the Standard Achievement Admission Test (Tahsili). Universities combine them into a weighted score (النسبة الموزونة) using their own weights for each programme, and ETEC sends each applicant's highest Qudurat and Tahsili scores to the Unified Admission Platform automatically once approved.

What parents often get wrong

• Treating the common first year as a warm-up. It decides track placement, and the track decides which Tahsili and which university programmes are open.
• Leaving Qudurat and Tahsili to the final term. Qudurat can be taken from Grade 11, and Tahsili covers the content of all three secondary years.
• Assuming Nafs scores go on the certificate. Nafs measures schools and the system; it is still worth taking seriously because it shows gaps early.
• Expecting any online tutor to teach in Arabic. Most tutors teach in English, so check language before booking.

How one-to-one tutoring helps, and what to ask for

Saudi curriculum lessons depend on language. The curriculum is taught in Arabic, and only a small number of LiveTutor tutors teach in Arabic: Arabic-speaking tutors are available for some subjects, so ask when you book and we will tell you honestly whether we have one for your child's subject. Where we do not, a tutor can still help a student who is comfortable working in English, for example with maths and science concepts, Tahsili preparation (ETEC offers the scientific Tahsili in English as well as Arabic) and the English subject itself.

A tutor follows the Ministry textbook unit by unit, checks that the student can solve each problem type, and practises Tahsili and Qudurat-style questions as the final years approach. Lessons are one to one, 60 minutes, in LiveTutor's own online classroom with video and a shared whiteboard.