Assessment day for Dubai College and Jumeirah College: a parent's checklist

What does Dubai College say about its assessment day?

The assessment is at Dubai College on Sunday 15 November 2026. The school asks families to keep both the morning and the afternoon free, provides all necessary equipment, and confirms full details of the day to registered applicants before the assessment. It describes one adaptive online assessment of approximately two hours, with modules in English, mathematics and non-verbal reasoning.

Children registered with an Arab nationality on their Emirates ID, or who study Arabic A and wish to continue it, are also assessed in Arabic A: a written paper of 45 minutes and an assessment of spoken Arabic. Requests for access arrangements are made on the application form, and the school may ask for supporting reports. For the format in more detail see what is in the Dubai College assessment, and for everything else about entry the Dubai College guide.

What does Jumeirah College say about its assessment day?

Jumeirah College's 2027-28 policy gives Saturday 14 November 2026 as the assessment day for Phase 2 applicants: pupils from other schools, and children of College or Jumeirah Primary School staff. The assessment is online CAT4, covering verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial reasoning, and takes 1.5 to 2 hours. It is a series of small tests, each starting with practice questions that are untimed and unmarked, and every question is multiple choice.

Phase 1 applicants are assessed earlier: Year 6 pupils at Jumeirah Primary School are assessed at that school, and siblings of current students were assessed at the College on Thursday 22 October 2026. Phase 2 applications close at 8 am on Friday 30 October 2026, and the policy says no Year 7 applications are taken after that date except for the waiting list. Phase 2 offers are made in the week commencing 4 January 2027. For practice in the CAT4 format see Jumeirah College CAT4 practice.

What if my child sits both, on consecutive days?

Then plan the weekend as one event. Our view: no practice at all on Friday 13 or between the two sittings, an early night on both evenings, and a quiet, ordinary afternoon on Saturday after Jumeirah College. Treat Saturday as a warm-up rather than a rehearsal, and do not talk through the questions afterwards; the two tests are different, and going over one does not help with the other.

What should we do in the days before?

Read each school's confirmation as soon as it arrives and note the time, the entrance and anything it says to bring. The schools publish few logistics in advance and confirm them to registered families, so the confirmation is the source to trust. The checklist below is our view of the rest; print it and tick it off.

What should a child know before they walk in?

Our view: three things are enough. Both tests are taken on a screen, and nobody expects a child to know every answer. Some questions will feel hard, and that is fine; in an adaptive test such as Dubai College's, hard questions often mean things are going well. And they only need to do their own best work, one question at a time. The last three weeks plan covers the run-up.