TISUS Test 2027: Dates, the Three Parts, Pass Mark and Free Practice

TISUS (Tisus, Test i svenska för universitets- och högskolestudier) is Stockholm University’s test in Swedish for university studies. In the university’s own words it is “a qualifying test in Swedish for university and college studies in Sweden” for anyone with an upper secondary school diploma from a foreign country who plans to apply for academic studies in Sweden and lacks a certificate in Swedish [official: su.se, About Tisus]. The whole test is in Swedish, so this page explains it in English for readers who are still deciding. Where we give our own view we say our reading or our advice. A longer version in Swedish is TISUS: provdatum, delprov och poänggräns.

ProSyllabus is an independent study site. We are not part of, and do not speak for, Stockholm University, the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR), antagning.se or the Swedish Migration Agency. The rules on this page are quoted or summarised from their own pages. Stockholm University decides everything about the test, and the admissions office decides your eligibility.

To study a programme taught in Swedish you need basic eligibility, and for applicants with foreign upper secondary schooling that includes Swedish. Antagning.se puts the requirement as Svenska nivå 3 or Svenska som andraspråk nivå 3 with at least the grade E, and lists a pass on TISUS as one of the other ways to meet it [official: antagning.se]. UHR’s assessment handbook lists TISUS among the tests that correspond to Svenska 3 [official: uhrporten.se]. You also need English for basic eligibility, which TISUS does not cover.

Stockholm University’s FAQ adds two practical points. You should have finished your foreign upper secondary school, or be in your last year, when you take TISUS, and the university advises against taking it if you are very young, because it can be difficult to pass. There are also courses in Swedish as a foreign language at Swedish universities that give the same eligibility as TISUS, if you are not yet at the level [official: su.se, FAQ].

TISUS is used outside admissions too. For Swedish citizenship, the Swedish Migration Agency lists a pass on “the Tisus test” among the qualifications that show knowledge of Swedish (read 14 October 2026) [official: migrationsverket.se]. For jobs, the university says the level of Swedish required varies and points to studera.nu. Our guide to the Swedish language requirement for citizenship covers the other routes.

The table sums up how Stockholm University describes each sub-test. Each component is equally weighted, the university says, and you need a pass in all three.

The first part, 50 minutes, is general comprehension: five texts, each followed by 4–8 questions, either multiple choice with three options or statements you mark true or false [official: su.se, Reading comprehension]. The Swedish version of the page gives the length of each text, 500 to 900 words, and the total, 30 tasks. The second part, 25 minutes, is scanning: one longer text of 3–5 pages and 15 questions, which the university calls a high-speed reading skill; answers should generally be no longer than a word or a short phrase. No dictionaries or other aids are allowed.

Each correct answer gives one mark, so the maximum is 45. The university does not announce the pass score in advance, because it is set after each test so that the difficulty stays the same between versions. Here the two language versions of its FAQ disagree: the Swedish FAQ (last updated 3 March 2026) says the pass mark is usually around 24–30 of 45 points, while the English FAQ (last updated 12 December 2025) says around 28–32 [official: su.se, FAQ]. We print both. Our advice: aim above the higher figure in practice, since the line moves with each test.

You write a coherent text of about 400 words; the length can vary without necessarily affecting the grade [official: su.se, Writing proficiency]. The subject is of public interest and not tied to any field of study. It should be treated from a general perspective, from different angles and in an objective tone. The text has an introduction (for example, defining a term from the given issue), a longer critical reasoning part that makes up most of the text, and a conclusion. The imagined reader is an educated person who likes to read non-fiction, so the style is neutral and factual. You get an instruction sheet, an inspiration sheet you may use or ignore (if you refer to or quote it, or any other source, say so clearly), and paper to write on.

You may bring a Swedish-Swedish word book; the university names Bonniers svenska ordbok, Norstedts svenska ordbok, Natur och Kulturs svenska ordbok and Svensk ordbok from the Swedish Academy as examples. Thesauruses and bilingual dictionaries are not allowed, and the test leader does not have to provide a word book. At least two raters assess three things: clear, independent reasoning from a general perspective with enough linguistic range; a coherent, structured text with logical and varied links between its parts; and linguistic correctness and precision. To pass, the university says, the text must be clear and coherent and understandable without effort.

In Sweden there are two tasks [official: su.se, Speaking proficiency Sweden]. In the conversation task, usually three candidates and an interlocutor hold a reasoning conversation of about 20 minutes on one of two topics sent to you about a week before the test; the interlocutor picks the topic on the day. In the individual task, each candidate gets a question on paper, two minutes to take notes and two minutes to speak. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes and is video-recorded. In Stockholm the speaking tests are spread over two days.

Abroad, most centres use an individual presentation [official: su.se, Speaking proficiency abroad]: 15 minutes of preparation, then 10–15 minutes of recording on one of two topics, working through five sub-tasks of at least two minutes each, with a test leader present. Some centres now use an online format with a conversation and a short individual presentation, the same format as in Sweden but by video conference; the university lists Athens, Beijing, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Osaka, Tokyo, San Francisco and Shanghai and says it cannot guarantee the format each time. In both formats the same four things are assessed: reasoning on a general level from different perspectives, linguistic range, fluency and pronunciation.

There are two grades, Pass (Godkänt) and Fail (Underkänt), and to pass TISUS you must pass all three parts [official: su.se, About Tisus]. If you fail one part, you retake only that part, a residual test (restprov), within a year: at one of the two following test dates, in Sweden or abroad. If you fail two or three parts, you retake the whole test. A grade cannot be appealed, but it can be reassessed if it is clearly incorrect, under the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100), chapter 6, section 24; ask the Tisus administration for the form.

How many pass? The FAQ says the pass percentage varies but is usually around 50%. That is the only overall pass-rate figure the university publishes. Its English page adds a warning worth reading twice: with the new qualification requirements in Swedish, TISUS has an increased difficulty level compared with when the sample tests were developed [official: su.se, About Tisus]. Our reading: a comfortable score on the sample tests is a good sign, not a promise.

The test dates are the same in Sweden and abroad (abroad the test is on the Tuesday), but the registration windows differ [official: su.se, About Tisus]. In Sweden, reading and writing usually run on a Tuesday morning and take about four hours; the oral test can fall on the Tuesday or the Wednesday. All times are Swedish local time. When we read the page on 23 October 2026, registration opened at 09.00 and closed at 16.00; earlier versions of the page gave 08.00 and 17.00.

In Sweden you register and pay in one go through a web form, which is in Swedish; seats are limited and a centre can fill up before the last day, in which case you are offered your second choice. Abroad it takes two steps: you send an interest form, wait for an email confirming a test centre, and then pay through the link in that email. The university stresses that your place is guaranteed only once you have the confirmation and have paid [official: su.se, Om Tisus]. Results come about five weeks after the test, before the admissions deadline for supplementing documents, so a pass in May can count for studies starting the following semester; the exact admission dates are on antagning.se and universityadmissions.se.

From 2026 the fee in Sweden is 2,380 SEK for the full test and 1,190 SEK for a residual test; abroad it is 2,875 SEK and 1,440 SEK [official: su.se, Om Tisus]. You pay by card (VISA or MasterCard). Abroad, a separate fee to the local test leader is often added, paid on the test day, to cover costs such as postage, room hire and invigilation; no amount is published. The Scholarship Fund for Swedish Youth Abroad (Stipendiefonden för svensk utlandsungdom) gives scholarships for TISUS; its own page sets the conditions.

A refund is possible until 11 calendar days before the test, minus an administrative fee, so you cannot get the whole fee back; after that the registration is binding, and the fee cannot be moved to a later sitting or another person. If you have dyslexia or another lasting disability, the most common accommodation is 50% extra time. Send a professional assessment to the Tisus administration no later than 4 weeks before the test in Sweden or 6 weeks before abroad; abroad, extra time depends on the test leader, and other accommodations can usually only be offered in Sweden [official: su.se, FAQ; Om Tisus].

Where can you sit it? In Sweden: Linköping, Lund, Malmö, Stockholm, Umeå and Uppsala. Abroad there are no fixed centres; the test runs at about 70 places on every continent. To run it, Stockholm University cooperates primarily with Swedish embassies and consulates, Swedish schools abroad and universities that teach Swedish and Scandinavian studies. Both language versions list the centres with the most candidates in 2025 as Athens, London, San Francisco and Zürich, and the English page adds that this is no guarantee for future dates.

Assessment takes about five weeks, then the university emails the result. It sends a list of all passes to University Admissions before the supporting-documents deadline, so if you applied for the coming semester through universityadmissions.se or antagning.se you do not need to send the certificate yourself; for another programme or a later semester you send a copy yourself [official: su.se, About Tisus]. A pass is equivalent to a grade and never expires. Certificates are not translated into English or other languages, because the test exists for university entry in Sweden, and a TISUS certificate is not an official statement of a CEFR level [official: su.se, FAQ].

The university calls TISUS a proficiency test, not a knowledge test: there is no set reading list and no required course, and it runs no special preparation courses [official: su.se, FAQ]. Its own advice is to read Swedish fiction and Swedish newspapers to build the large vocabulary the level needs, keeping in mind that the writing and speaking tests often assume some knowledge of Swedish society, current problems and current events. You can also read the literature for the 30-credit qualifying course in Swedish (Behörighetsgivande kurs i svenska), which gives the same eligibility.

Start with the university’s sample tests, all free and all in Swedish: reading comprehension sample assignments, a writing sample test with a commented essay, and the speaking samples and demo films for Sweden and abroad. Only the sample material is public; all other test material is classified. We walk through what each sample contains in TISUS exempelprov (in Swedish).

When you have done the official samples, our free reading practice test gives you text 1 and the first three scanning questions of a full test in the same format, in Swedish, with the clock running. Your score out of 45 is shown next to the band the university states, as a rough guide; it is not a prediction of your result.

Stockholm University does not publish these on the pages we read on 14 and 23 October 2026, so we do not guess:

• A pass mark or scale for writing and speaking. Only the description of a pass exists.
• Pass rates per sitting or per sub-test. Only “usually around 50%”.
• Which reading pass band is current: the Swedish FAQ says 24–30, the older English FAQ 28–32.
• The size of the administrative fee kept on a refund, or of the test leader’s fee abroad.
• A fee for 2027. The pages give the fees “from 2026”.
• Any link to the CEFR. The university says there is none.