How to Apply

Your first step starts with the VAI Diagnostic Exam — a placement and scholarship assessment designed to set you on the right path toward medical university.

VAI Diagnostic Exam — What to Expect

Before enrolling in the Veritas Aescula OSSD program, all applicants complete a VAI Diagnostic Test. This is not a pass/fail examination — it is a placement and scholarship assessment that helps us understand your current academic level, identify your areas of strength, and tailor your learning pathway for medical university success.

🎓 Scholarships are awarded based on your Diagnostic Test performance combined with your previous academic record. Strong performers receive merit-based reductions on tuition and additional program fees.

Why We Test

The VAI OSSD program is an accelerated, pre-medical curriculum. Our diagnostic exam helps us prepare you for success.

📍

Cohort Placement

Place you in the correct intake group matched to your academic level.

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Targeted Support

Identify subject areas that need additional attention before you begin.

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Scholarship Eligibility

Assess your eligibility for merit-based tuition reductions.

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Readiness Check

Confirm your readiness for university-preparation level study.

Exam Overview

Five subjects covering the core competencies required for medical school preparation.

Subject Format Questions Tools Permitted Delivery
English 3 Written Sections — None Paper / Tablet
Mathematics MC + Short Answer 16 Calculator Paper / Tablet
Physics MC + Full Answer 23 Calculator, Formula Sheet Paper / Tablet
Chemistry MC + Short Answer 24 Calculator, Periodic Table Paper / Tablet
Biology Multiple Choice 40 None Online · Google Forms
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English

Assesses reading comprehension, analytical writing, and command of English language conventions. All responses are written in full sentences.

⏱ 1–2 hours ✏️ No tools permitted 3 Sections

📖 Section A — Reading Comprehension & Analysis

Based on a passage from George Orwell's 1984.

  • Mood and atmosphere analysis using textual evidence
  • Interpreting authorial choices and symbolic names
  • Identifying and explaining literary devices
  • Understanding irony and its effect on meaning
  • Short analytical paragraph (dystopian setting and character)
  • First-person point of view rewrite (creative response)

✏️ Section B — Language & Conventions

  • Subject–verb agreement (neither/nor constructions)
  • Conditional tenses (past perfect conditional)
  • Comparative structures (than + pronoun)
  • Preposition usage
  • Correlative conjunctions (not only … but also)
  • Paragraph editing: capitalization, punctuation, grammar

🖊️ Section C — Writing (300–400 words, choose one)

Option A — Literary Essay

Theme analysis (identity and society) using a novel, short story, or film of your choice.

Option B — Personal Narrative

Describing a personal challenge, your response, and what you learned from the experience.

Assessed on: structure and organization · idea development · vocabulary range · grammar and conventions
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Mathematics

Advanced Functions at university-preparation level. Tests your ability to work with functions, trigonometry, logarithms, and polynomial analysis.

⏱ 60–90 min 🔢 Calculator permitted 16 Questions

🔵 Multiple Choice — Questions 1 to 10

10
Multiple Choice questions
6
Short Answer questions
  • Domain of rational functions
  • Degree-to-radian conversion (e.g. 135° → radians)
  • Logarithm evaluation (e.g. log₂ 16)
  • Horizontal asymptotes of rational functions
  • Holes in graphs (removable discontinuities)
  • Period of sinusoidal functions
  • Function transformations (reflection, vertical stretch)
  • Exact trigonometric values (e.g. tan 7π/6)
  • Symmetry of functions — even, odd, or neither
  • Sketching polynomial graphs from factored form

📝 Short Answer — Questions 11 to 16 · Show full process

  • Vertical asymptotes of rational functions
  • Factoring higher-degree polynomials; difference of cubes
  • Composite functions — f∘g(x)
  • Solving rational, trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic equations
  • Remainder theorem
  • Polynomial inequalities using sign chart analysis
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Physics

University-preparation physics covering mechanics, electricity, magnetism, waves, and special relativity. Full-answer questions require complete working.

⏱ 60–90 min 🔢 Calculator permitted 📄 Formula sheet provided 23 Questions

🔵 Multiple Choice — Questions 1 to 12

12
Multiple Choice questions
11
Full Answer questions
  • Properties of light — transverse wave characteristics (polarization)
  • Direction of acceleration in curved and circular motion
  • Projectile motion — horizontal throws from the same height
  • Free body diagrams — object on an inclined plane with kinetic friction
  • Velocity and acceleration direction for a decelerating object
  • Elevator force equilibrium at constant speed
  • Magnetic force between parallel current-carrying wires
  • Magnetic force on a proton (right-hand rule)
  • Conservation of momentum — completely inelastic 2D collision
  • Inertial frames of reference
  • Electric charge quantization
  • Diffraction — definition and identification

📝 Full Answer — Questions 13 to 23 · Show full process

  • Speed from momentum using p = mv
  • Time from kinematics with constant deceleration over a known distance
  • Vertical projectile motion — time for rocket to return at a different speed
  • Electron speed calculated from kinetic energy
  • Special relativity — length contraction at 0.75c
  • Vector addition — net force from perpendicular components (N and W)
  • Centripetal acceleration in uniform circular motion
  • Projectile launched at an angle from a cliff — horizontal range
  • Tension angle for an object pulled at constant speed with friction
  • Electric potential energy using Coulomb's law (point charges)
  • Double-slit diffraction angle for first-order maximum
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Chemistry

University-preparation chemistry covering organic chemistry, bonding, thermodynamics, equilibrium, acids and bases, and electrochemistry.

⏱ 60–90 min 🔢 Calculator permitted 🧮 Periodic table provided 24 Questions

🔵 Multiple Choice — Questions 1 to 13

13
Multiple Choice questions
11
Short Answer questions
  • Ranking intermolecular forces (H₂O, Cl₂, H₂S)
  • Molecular polarity — identifying non-polar molecules
  • Organic functional groups without oxygen
  • Oxidation products of secondary alcohols
  • Exothermic reactions — direction of heat flow
  • Enthalpy — energy lost or gained in a reaction
  • Catalysts and their effect on activation energy
  • Characteristics of dynamic chemical equilibrium
  • Equilibrium constants — reactant vs product favored
  • Le Chatelier's principle — maximizing product yield
  • Ka values and relative acid/base strength
  • Equivalence point in acid–base titration
  • Galvanic cell — site of reduction (cathode)

📝 Short Answer — Questions 14 to 24 · Show full process

  • Full electron configuration of O²⁻
  • Lewis structure and hybridization of SO₃
  • Comparative water solubility: ethane vs ethanol with reasoning
  • Naming organic compounds from condensed structural formulas
  • Drawing organic compounds from IUPAC names
  • Drawing and naming ester products of esterification reactions
  • Hess's Law — calculating heat of reaction from ΔH° values
  • Stoichiometry — grams of product from a given reactant mass
  • Le Chatelier's principle — effects of temperature and volume changes
  • pH and Ka calculation for a weak acid (given % dissociation)
  • Balancing redox reactions in acidic conditions (half-reaction method)
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Biology

40-question multiple choice exam completed online via Google Forms. Covers biochemistry, metabolic processes, molecular genetics, homeostasis, and population dynamics.

⏱ 45–60 min 🌐 Online · Google Forms No tools permitted 40 Questions

🔬 Biochemistry — Q1–7

  • Starch synthesis from simple sugars (macromolecule origin)
  • Protein function and the role of amino acid sequence
  • Cell membrane structure — glycoproteins as signal receptors
  • Deamination of amino acids (removal of nitrogen-containing part)
  • Allosteric and end-product enzyme inhibition
  • Enzyme–substrate binding with multiple competing molecules
  • Competitive inhibition — definition and mechanism

⚡ Metabolic Processes — Q8–12

  • Role of oxygen in cellular respiration — final electron acceptor in ETC
  • Why carbohydrates and fats are high-energy foods (C–H bonds)
  • Reason for limited NADH formation in glycolysis
  • Mitochondrial metabolic defects causing excess lactate production
  • Location of CO₂ release in catabolism — citric acid cycle

🧬 Molecular Genetics — Q13–23

  • Translation diagram — tRNA, ribosome, and mRNA components
  • Effect of point mutations on amino acid sequence
  • Definition of a codon
  • Role of tRNA in translation
  • Advantage of using RNA as an intermediate in protein synthesis
  • Universal genetic code — implications and what cannot be inferred
  • Features shared between prokaryotic and eukaryotic gene expression
  • Cell cycle phases — S phase as DNA synthesis phase
  • UV light as the cause of pyrimidine dimer formation
  • Excision repair gene mutations — xeroderma pigmentosum
  • Recombinant DNA using restriction enzymes and DNA ligase

🧠 Homeostasis — Q24–32

  • Fight-or-flight response — sympathetic nervous system
  • Types of CNS neuroglia — distinguishing CNS from PNS support cells
  • Interneuron — definition and CNS location
  • Definition of homeostasis
  • Temperature regulation as an example of negative feedback
  • Role of the hypothalamus as sensor and control center
  • Positive feedback — characteristics and when it is used
  • Hormone binding effects — downstream changes

🌏 Population Dynamics & Related Systems — Q33–40

  • Carrying capacity — definition
  • Population density calculation (individuals per km²)
  • Limitations of random sampling
  • Non-renewable vs renewable resources (coal as non-renewable)
  • Diffusion — alveolar gas exchange diagram interpretation
  • Osmosis — red blood cell crenation in a hypertonic solution
  • Natural killer cells — destruction via perforin-lined pores
  • Secondary immune response — role of memory cells

How to Register for the Diagnostic

The diagnostic exam is completed as part of your pre-registration. No separate sign-up required.

Complete the Pre-Registration Form

Fill out our online application form for your program of interest. Takes less than 10 minutes.

Receive Your Diagnostic Date

Our admissions team will contact you via Viber or email with your diagnostic test date and subject links.

Complete All Five Subjects

OSSD Year 12 applicants sit all five subjects. Biology is completed online via Google Forms; all other subjects are handwritten on paper or tablet.

Receive Your Placement Outcome

You'll receive your cohort placement and scholarship assessment within 5–7 business days of completing all subjects.

Start Your Pre-Registration →

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about the diagnostic exam and application process.

No. The diagnostic is a placement and scholarship assessment. All applicants who complete it are considered for admission. Your results inform your cohort placement and scholarship award — not whether you are accepted.
You will receive additional support in that area during the program. The diagnostic helps us design a personalised study plan that addresses your specific needs before and during the OSSD courses.
  • 📝 English: 1–2 hours
  • 📐 Mathematics & Physics: approximately 60–90 minutes each
  • 🧪 Chemistry: approximately 60–90 minutes
  • 🧬 Biology (Google Form): approximately 45–60 minutes
Only the tools listed in each exam are permitted. Calculators are allowed for Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. Physics also provides a formula sheet. Chemistry provides a periodic table. No tools are permitted for English, and the Biology Google Form is completed without external aids.
Diagnostic tests are offered on a rolling basis tied to intake cohort deadlines. The earliest recommended application deadline for the September–October intake is March of the same year to qualify for early bird scholarship consideration.
Scholarships are merit-based and awarded according to your Diagnostic Test performance combined with your previous academic record. Strong performers across all five subjects receive the highest merit-based reductions on tuition and program fees.

Ready to Begin?

Complete your pre-registration today and take the first step toward your medical university journey with Veritas Aescula Institute.

Apply Now — Free Pre-Registration
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