CAT4 and Dubai College admissions

Dubai College describes itself as an independent, coeducational, not-for-profit, selective secondary school following an adapted English National Curriculum. Year 7 is its main entry point, and the school strongly recommends that families already in Dubai apply for Year 7 rather than wait for a later year group.

CAT4 enters the Year 7 process as existing evidence rather than as a test sat at Dubai College. According to the school's How to apply page, applicants at schools in Dubai need their most recent CAT4 results and their end of Year 5 GL Progress Test results (PTE, PTM and PTS), or an equivalent such as MAP. Applicants at schools outside Dubai need their most recent CAT4 or standardised results plus any end of Year 5 standardised test results. Families either upload these results or give consent on the online form for Dubai College to obtain them from the current school.

In practice this means the CAT4 your child has already sat at their primary school is the one that will be seen. Ask your child's current school which CAT4 result is on file and when it was taken, so there are no surprises.

Alongside the submitted results, every Year 7 applicant sits the school's own entrance assessment. The Year 7 FAQ describes it as an adaptive online assessment taking approximately two hours, made up of modules in English, Mathematics and non-verbal reasoning. The school notes that the platform and question style are very similar to other standard online testing programmes such as CAT4 and GL Progress Tests, and that all equipment is provided.

Students registered with an Arab nationality are also assessed in Arabic A: a 45-minute written assessment plus an assessment of spoken Arabic.

The FAQ lists what the Admissions Panel considers in addition to the entrance assessment:

• The end of Year 5 school report, submitted with the online application (end of Grade 4 for 12-grade curriculum schools such as IB, American or Indian).
• End of Year 5 GL Progress Test (PTE, PTM, PTS) results for students at school in Dubai.
• The most recent CAT4 or standardised test results.

For August 2027 Year 7 entry, Dubai College's key dates page listed: applications opening on Tuesday 15 September 2026, a closing date of Tuesday 27 October 2026 at 12 noon UAE time (late applications not accepted), the entrance assessment on Sunday 15 November 2026, and results by email in mid-January 2027. Applications for that cycle have now closed. The school's admissions page says applications for August 2028 entry are not yet open, so check the key dates page for the next cycle rather than assuming the same dates.

Two points from the FAQ are worth knowing early. First, a candidate may sit the Year 7 entrance assessment only once, so a child who is unsuccessful cannot re-apply for Year 7 the following year. Second, families who want access arrangements considered may be asked for a recent Educational Psychologist report, an IEP or a letter from the SENCO at the current school.

Demand is high. The FAQ states there are 176 Year 7 places for August 2027 (eight forms of 22), and that the school has recently received more than three applications per place, and more than four per place for August 2026.

Outside Year 7, Dubai College runs an Occasional Places Scheme for Years 8, 9 and 10. This is where CAT4 carries an explicit published figure: the scheme page states that “all successful applicants will have a minimum score of 110 across the four elements of the GL CAT4.” The scheme looks for exceptional candidates, locally and overseas, who show high academic performance and substantial achievement in at least one further area, and the process includes academic assessment, interview and an assessment of extra-curricular ability.

The scheme was shown as currently closed when we checked. The admissions page says expressions of interest for August 2027 may open in Term 2 (January or February 2027), depending on forecast availability of places. Year 12 applications for August 2027 are also expected to open in Term 2. The school does not consider applications to join Years 11 or 13.

Dubai College's FAQ is direct on this: the school does not endorse tutoring for its entrance assessment, and suggests that if a family feels a child needs tutoring to succeed, they may want to consider whether the school is the right fit. We think that is worth taking seriously.

Because the CAT4 result the school sees is usually one your child has already sat, and the entrance assessment is adaptive, the useful work is long-term rather than last-minute: wide reading and vocabulary, secure arithmetic and problem solving, and calm familiarity with timed, on-screen tests so the format itself is not a shock. Cramming question types in the weeks before is unlikely to help and can add stress.