What the professional license exam is
Saudi Arabia does not let a degree alone put someone in front of a classroom. Since the licensing system took effect, anyone who wants to teach in the Kingdom, in a government school or a private one, has to hold a Professional License for Teachers. The license is issued by the Education and Training Evaluation Commission, ETEC, and the exam that earns it is built and delivered by ETEC’s National Center for Assessment, known across the Kingdom simply as Qiyas. It is the same body that runs the Kingdom’s other standardized admissions and aptitude tests, so the exam follows the same computer based, multiple choice format candidates will recognize from other Qiyas tests.
The license is not a one time credential filed away after graduation. It has to be earned before someone starts teaching, and it carries a validity period that requires renewal, so both new graduates entering the profession and serving teachers who need to renew or upgrade their standing sit the same pair of tests.
Who needs to sit it
Two groups register for the exam every cycle. The first is new graduates: a candidate who holds a bachelor’s degree in the subject they intend to teach and wants a first teaching post in Saudi public or private education. The second is serving teachers whose license needs renewal, or who are retaking a test they did not clear the first time. ETEC opens registration on separate dates for men and for women, and separately again for candidates who are retaking a test versus those sitting it for the first time, so it is worth checking which registration window actually applies before assuming the general dates apply.
The underlying qualification requirement is the same for everyone: a bachelor’s degree in the relevant teaching specialization, matched to the subject and school stage the candidate wants to be licensed for.
The two tests
The license rests on two separate exams, and a candidate has to clear both.
The General Pedagogical Test, referred to as the GTT, is common to every teacher regardless of subject. It runs 88 multiple choice questions across two hours of testing time, with an additional hour set aside before the test for check in and seating. There is no negative marking, so an unanswered question and a wrong answer cost the same, nothing. The questions are drawn from three domains: professional values and responsibilities, professional knowledge, and professional practice. This is the test that asks whether a candidate understands teaching as a profession, not whether they know their subject matter.
The Specialized Subject Test, the STT, is where subject knowledge is actually tested. A candidate sits the version of the STT that matches the specialization they are registering under, whether that is Arabic language, Islamic studies, mathematics, science or any other subject ETEC licenses teachers in. The number of questions is not fixed across every subject; it runs from roughly 60 to 88 depending on the specialization, but the two hour testing window and the multiple choice format stay the same.
Scoring and license levels
Both tests are scored out of 100, and the pass threshold is tied to which level of license a candidate is aiming for. A Practitioner license, the entry level license every new teacher needs, requires 50 percent. An Advanced license requires 70 percent or higher, and the top tier, an Expert license, requires 80 percent or higher. In practice this means clearing the exam does not automatically mean clearing it at the level a candidate wants: a teacher aiming for Advanced or Expert standing needs a materially stronger score on both the GTT and the STT than the minimum that lets someone into the profession at all.
Registration and fees
Registration for both tests runs through Qiyas’s individuals portal, reached through ETEC’s e-services site, and separately through the government’s national services platform for candidates who prefer that route. Each test carries its own fee: 100 Saudi riyals for the General Pedagogical Test, 100 riyals for the Specialized Subject Test, and a further 100 riyals to have the license issued once both tests are cleared. Retaking either test, if a candidate does not clear it the first time, costs another 100 riyals.
For the 2026 cycle, ETEC opened registration for male teachers on 3 August 2026 and for female teachers on 10 August 2026, with the Specialized Subject Test sitting scheduled for 15 to 17 October 2026 and the General Pedagogical Test sitting scheduled for 5 to 7 November 2026. These are the dates for that specific cycle, not a fixed annual calendar, so a candidate preparing for a future sitting should check ETEC’s own registration page rather than assume the same weeks apply again.
On exam day
Candidates should plan to arrive roughly an hour before their test slot for check in. A seat number is released on the Qiyas individuals portal 24 hours before the exam, and candidates need it along with a valid national ID or Iqama to be admitted. Mobile phones, smart watches and any other electronic device are not allowed inside the test room, and neither are notes, books or any other unauthorized material, which matches the security standard Qiyas applies across its other standardized tests.
How to prepare
Because the GTT tests professional values, knowledge and practice rather than subject content, preparation for it looks more like studying pedagogy and Saudi education policy than reviewing a textbook. The STT, by contrast, rewards deep subject preparation in whatever specialization a candidate is licensing under. Results reach candidates by text message and later appear in their account on the professional licensing system, where the license itself, once earned, is what a Saudi school, government or private, will ask to see before hiring a teacher into a classroom.