School Entrance Exams — what Swiss schools actually assess

Not one of the nineteen we checked publishes a requirement for either. We looked at the admissions pages of ISZL, Zurich International School, Inter-Community School Zurich, International School Basel, the International School of Lausanne, Ecolint, Collège du Léman, Institut Le Rosey, Aiglon, TASIS, Leysin American School, St. George’s Montreux, Institut Montana Zugerberg, Brillantmont, Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, the International School of Central Switzerland, La Côte International School, Geneva English School and the British School of Geneva. The ISEE and the SSAT are American independent-school admissions tests. They matter enormously if your child is applying to a school in the United States — and not at all for a place in Zug.

Four things, in various combinations. English against a CEFR band — this is the commonest single requirement, and several schools publish the exact bands. A school-set paper, usually mathematics and English, written by the school rather than bought in. An interview or a taster day, sometimes by video for applicants outside Switzerland. And the school reports you already have, which carry more weight than families expect. Aiglon, for instance, publishes three online assessments of its own — an English proficiency test, a general ability paper and a mathematics paper for Diploma applicants — and names no external test at all.

Some schools publish them precisely, which is unusually helpful. ISZL states that no formal entrance exam is required but that students entering mid-year from Grade 7 and above may need an English language assessment, with policy bands of A2 for mid-year Grade 7, B1 for Grade 8, B2 for Grades 9 and 10, and C1 or C2 for Grades 11 and 12. International School Basel requires an online English test for Grade 6 and above, with minimums of A2 for Grades 9 and 10 and B1 or B2 for Grades 11 and 12, and adds a follow-up online interview for students at or below those levels. Zurich International School requires English proficiency from the middle of Grade 7, and expects Grades 9 and 10 applicants to show enough mathematics to pass an Algebra 1 course. Those are targets you can actually work towards.

Yes, and they say so in their own words. La Côte International School publishes that it is “academically non-selective, which means students don’t need to sit an entrance assessment before they join us”. Collège du Léman describes itself as “an inclusive, academically non-selective school”. Ecolint states that it operates “a non-selective and inclusive admissions philosophy” and that a child does not need to speak English or French before joining. The International School of Lausanne asks for two years of school reports and standardised test results only “if available”. If your child is applying to one of these, the honest answer is that there is nothing to prepare for and you should keep your money.

The CAT4 is the Cognitive Abilities Test from GL Assessment, measuring verbal, non-verbal, spatial and quantitative reasoning. Three Swiss schools we checked name it: Institut Montana Zugerberg uses it alongside language placement tests, the British School of Geneva runs it from Year 3 to Year 13 as part of a wider assessment suite, and Geneva English School requires it from applicants transferring in to study A Levels. As for practising — the publisher’s position could not be clearer. GL states: “We strongly advise against any kind of practice ahead of a CAT4 test and we do not recommend or endorse any CAT4 practice materials”, and elsewhere that practice “will alter the reliability of test scores” because the point of the test is that it is not a test of learnt knowledge. We are not going to sell you something the test publisher explicitly warns against.

No, and this is a common misunderstanding. MAP Growth is an adaptive progress test from NWEA, and at the Swiss schools that use it, it is an in-house annual measure of learning growth, not an admissions gate. International School Basel conducts MAP testing in reading and mathematics for every student from Grade 3 to Grade 10, each year. Zurich International School reports MAP reading and mathematics results to parents alongside other assessment data. NWEA’s own guidance to families is that “students shouldn’t study for MAP Growth, but it’s always good to know what to expect”. If your child’s school runs MAP, it is measuring progress, not deciding admission.

Familiarisation, and nothing that inflates the underlying score. Knowing what the sections look like, how long each battery runs, that there is a countdown, and that guessing rules differ between tests. Working through the unscored practice examples the test itself provides. Sleeping properly and eating beforehand, which both publishers explicitly recommend. And reducing the anxiety that makes a capable child freeze in the first ten minutes. What preparation cannot honestly promise is a higher standard age score or a better stanine. The research on retesting cognitive tests finds a real but modest familiarity effect — on the closest verifiable measure, around 0.28 of a standard deviation from a first to a second sitting on working-memory tests, with gains stopping after the third administration. That is an artefact of familiarity, not a gain in ability, and it is precisely what GL says it wants to keep out of CAT4 results.

That is a real preparation job and we do it. The 11+ and 13+ are UK independent and grammar-school entrance routes, set variously by individual schools, by GL, by CEM and by the ISEB Common Pre-Tests. Unlike the CAT4, the ISEB actively sells preparation — it publishes an official prep pack with more than sixty-five resources and has textbooks in development explicitly designed to support families preparing for the pre-tests. The tests are curriculum-facing enough that teaching genuinely helps. If you are in Switzerland and applying to a UK school, the practical questions are the registration window, whether the school uses the ISEB pre-test or its own paper, and where your child will physically sit it.

Also a real job, and both publishers support preparation. The ERB endorses a commercial preparation provider for the ISEE, publishes free sample tests and “what to expect” guides, and recommends starting four to six months out, spaced rather than crammed, and under timed conditions — while stating that its own guides are “not training books for exam strategies and using these guides does not guarantee any outcome on the test”. The ERB also urges schools to read scores alongside multiple other sources of information. There is an ISEE test centre in Geneva, and the SSAT is available in Switzerland through Prometric, though only at Middle and Upper level. Tell us which test and which level and we will work to it.

More than families budget for, and it is worth knowing before you spend on preparation. Published 2026 application and registration fees include CHF 500 per child at Zurich International School, CHF 500 at Inter-Community School Zurich, CHF 500 at Collège du Léman, CHF 250 at Ecolint, CHF 1,045 at the British School of Geneva plus a CHF 3,000 one-off capital development fee, and CHF 2,000 non-refundable at Aiglon. ISZL states there is no cost to apply. The International School of Lausanne charges no application fee but a one-off acceptance fee of CHF 5,000 on enrolment. These are the schools’ own published figures and they change — check before applying.

Earlier than you think, and the schools say so themselves. ISZL recommends applying by February for an August start. Inter-Community School Zurich accepts applications year-round but says that applying by the end of February improves the chances of a place. Institut Le Rosey runs round deadlines — 8 October 2026, 26 November 2026 and 11 February 2027 for its senior classes. Aiglon accepts applications up to a year in advance from September of the preceding year and asks for visa applications by the end of May. Ecolint has no fixed deadline and admits throughout the year subject to availability. The pattern is that the popular year groups fill from February, so the assessment is rarely the binding constraint — the calendar is.

It depends entirely on the school, and the range is wide. Ecolint says plainly that a child does not need to already speak English or French before joining. ISZL and International School Basel apply CEFR minimums that rise steeply with year group — by Grades 11 and 12 the expectation is C1 or C2 at ISZL. Institut Montana requires German and English at a minimum of B1 for its bilingual secondary years. The practical reading is that at primary age the language bar is low almost everywhere, and it climbs sharply from about Grade 9 — which is exactly when a family relocating with a teenager needs to know it.

Often not, and we would rather say so here than in a sales call. If your child is applying to a non-selective school, there is nothing to prepare for. If the assessment is a CAT4 or a MAP, the publishers themselves say not to study, and we agree with them. Where preparation genuinely earns its cost is a school-set maths and English paper, an interview or taster day for a child who finds those situations hard, moving several CEFR bands before a September start, or a UK or US admissions test with a real syllabus behind it. Tell us which of those you are facing and we will tell you honestly which side of the line it falls on.

Ask the school one question, in writing: what exactly will my child be assessed on, in what format, and on what date? Every admissions office can answer it precisely, and the answer determines everything else — including, quite often, that no preparation is needed. Send us the reply and the last two school reports and we will tell you plainly whether there is a job here, and if so how many hours it actually is. Nothing is charged to enquire and nothing is charged to be assigned, and this is a page where the honest answer is frequently that you should keep your money. Book a tutor, or send a WhatsApp message on +41 76 213 1843 and describe the situation.