O-NET's Shrinking Role in University Admission: Which Programs Still Require It
By Muntasir • Published Aug 06, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026 • Study in Southeast Asia
O-NET stopped counting toward your TCAS admission score starting with the TCAS65 cycle, the 2022 intake. NIETS still runs the O-NET exam for M6 students, but almost no university admission formula uses the score anymore.
📩 The Council of University Presidents of Thailand dropped O-NET from TCAS scoring for the 2022 intake.
NIETS keeps administering O-NET to grade 12 students as a national learning-quality check.
TGAT and TPAT, renamed from GAT and PAT in 2023, now carry the weight O-NET used to hold.
A small number of programs outside the main TCAS formula may still ask for an O-NET certificate as a supporting document.
Requirements differ by faculty and by year, so check the current admission announcement before you skip preparing.
O-NET's role before it left TCAS scoring
O-NET, the Ordinary National Educational Test, is a standardized exam run by Thailand's National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) for students finishing grade 12 (M6). For years it fed directly into university admission formulas alongside GAT, PAT and GPAX, giving every applicant a national benchmark on top of their school grades.
When it stopped counting toward admission
The Council of University Presidents of Thailand (ทปอ.) removed O-NET from the centralized TCAS scoring system starting with the TCAS65 cycle, covering students entering university in the 2022 academic year, a change reported by Thai PBS and confirmed in Fulcrum's review of the TCAS system . The decision cut the number of separate rounds from five to four and reduced the total number of exams applicants had to sit in one admission cycle.
GAT and PAT, the tests that absorbed O-NET's former weight, were themselves renamed TGAT (Thai General Aptitude Test) and TPAT (Thai Professional Aptitude Test) starting in 2023. Since then, GPAX, TGAT, TPAT and, for some faculties, A-Level subject tests form the main scoring inputs across TCAS rounds.
Before and after the change
| Admission cycle | Core scored inputs |
|---|---|
| TCAS64 and earlier (2021 intake and before) | GPAX, O-NET, GAT, PAT, and subject-specific tests depending on faculty |
| TCAS65 onward (2022 intake and later) | GPAX, GAT/PAT renamed TGAT/TPAT from 2023, and A-Level subject tests for some faculties |
This table reflects the general shift in scored inputs, not one fixed formula. Each faculty still sets its own weight for GPAX against test scores within whichever inputs it requires.
NIETS still runs the exam
Removing O-NET from admission scoring did not cancel the exam itself. NIETS continues to administer O-NET to M6 students every year, shown in its own published exam schedules, including notices on exam date changes for O-NET and Common Subjects in General Science . Schools use O-NET results as part of Thailand's national education-quality monitoring, separate from how universities select applicants.
Where O-NET can still matter
A small number of programs sit outside the main TCAS scoring formula, and some of these may still ask for an O-NET certificate as a supporting document rather than a scored input, particularly for certain Direct Admission Round 4 seats or specific faculty-run programs. The exact list changes by faculty and by year, so treat this as a possibility to check rather than a rule to assume.
Universities also stay under public pressure to keep revising the admission system. Reporting on the sector, including Bangkok Post's coverage of calls to reform portfolio admissions , and coverage of a planned TCAS70 overhaul for the 2027 intake with free entrance exams and stricter portfolio checks, show the testing formula keeps shifting. Do not rely on what an older sibling or a forum post says a program required two years earlier.
Why the change happened
CUPT dropped O-NET partly to reduce how many separate exams a student had to sit in one admission cycle, and partly in response to criticism that stacking O-NET, GAT, PAT and subject tests on top of school coursework put heavy pressure on M6 students in a short window. Streamlining the round structure from five rounds to four, alongside dropping O-NET from the scoring formula, was framed as an effort to simplify a system that had grown complicated for both students and universities to manage.
The tradeoff is that TGAT and TPAT now carry more weight in most formulas than they did when O-NET, GAT and PAT split the load between them. If you are weak on general aptitude or your intended professional aptitude area, that weakness shows up more directly in your final score than it would have under the older formula.
For applicants who sat school under the older system and are reapplying or applying late, this is worth noting specifically. A GPAX or portfolio profile built with the expectation that O-NET would help offset a weaker TGAT or TPAT score no longer works that way, since O-NET plays no role in how a Round 3 Admission score gets calculated today.
What to check before you assume you can skip O-NET prep
Open the specific faculty's admission announcement (ประกาศเกณฑ์การรับ) for the round and year you plan to apply.
Search the program on mytcas.com and read the listed required documents and scores, not just the round type.
If O-NET is not listed as a required score or document, you do not need to submit it for that program.
If you already sat O-NET as part of your school's regular schedule, keep the certificate on hand in case a program asks for it as proof of completion.
Re-check the requirement close to your application date rather than relying on what an earlier TCAS cycle required, since admission announcements get republished each year and can add or drop documents.