Sri Lanka University Cut-off Checker (Z-Score)

Enter the official Z-score from your A/L result sheet and your application district. Compare it with 2025/26 cut-offs, then check course requirements in the UGC handbook.

2025/2026 cut-offs. Every figure comes from the University Grants Commission table published on 31 July 2026, based on the 2025 G.C.E. (A/L) examination after re-scrutiny. Cut-offs change every year. They are a planning guide, not an admission guarantee. View the UGC source.

Printed on your A/L result sheet, to four decimal places.

The district on your application, not where you sat the exam.

This compares your score with past cut-offs only. It does not check your A/L subjects, course requirements or aptitude tests, and it cannot predict admission.

Enter your Z-score.

What a cut-off actually is

The cut-off is not a pass mark set in advance. It is the Z-score of the last candidate admitted to a course from a given district once everybody has been ranked and the places have run out. It is discovered, not decided.

That is why it moves every year. A course whose cut-off was 1.6500 one year can settle higher or lower the next, depending on how many people applied, how the cohort performed, and how many places were funded.

The 2025/2026 table at a glance
Count
Course and university combinations260
Distinct courses of study125
Universities and institutes21
Districts25
Cut-off values published6,500

Why your district changes the answer

Only 40% of the places on a course are filled on all-island Z-score rank. A further 55% are shared among the 25 districts in proportion to population and ranked within each district, and the last 5% is reserved for districts identified as educationally disadvantaged.

Because district allocations follow population rather than the number or strength of applicants, the same Z-score can be comfortably above the cut-off in one district and short of it in another. The spread is not small: entry to medicine at the University of Colombo ranged from 2.2624 in Gampaha to 2.4753 in Kandy in 2025/2026.

  • A course marked all-island merit fills every place on rank alone, so district is irrelevant to it.
  • A course marked aptitude test also requires a practical or aptitude paper, passed separately.
  • The district that counts is the one on your application, not where you sat the examination.

NQC is not a cut-off of zero

Roughly one in six cells in the table reads NQC: no qualified candidates from that district for that course. It can mean the district quota was already filled through all-island merit, that candidates from elsewhere with higher Z-scores took the places, or that nobody from the district met the minimum requirements.

Reading NQC as a zero would tell a student they qualify for a course that admitted nobody from their district. This tool carries those cells as absent rather than numeric, counts them separately, and never includes them in a qualifying list.

The most competitive entries in 2025/2026

Medicine is not the hardest course to enter. Small-intake technology degrees at Moratuwa now sit above every medical faculty, which is the sort of thing a table like this exists to reveal.

Highest cut-offs for a Colombo district applicant
CourseUniversityMinimum Z
Artificial IntelligenceUniversity of Moratuwa2.4074
Engineering TechnologyUniversity of Sri Jayewardenepura2.2995
MedicineUniversity of Colombo2.2721
Business ScienceUniversity of Moratuwa2.2306
MedicineUniversity of Peradeniya2.0762

How to use a past cut-off sensibly

Treat it as a measure of how competitive a course has been, not as a bar you have already cleared. The useful signal is the margin: a course you cleared by 0.3 was well within reach, and one you cleared by 0.005 could go either way next year.

  • Check the courses you just missed as well as the ones you reached.
  • Compare the same course across universities; the spread is often wide.
  • Remember that some courses are not taught in all three media, which can affect selection.
  • The UGC handbook, not a cut-off table, is the authority on eligibility for a course.

More student tools

Frequently asked questions

The cut-off is the minimum Z-score of the last candidate admitted to a course from a given district. It is not set in advance - it falls out of the selection process once every candidate has been ranked, so it moves each year with the strength of the cohort and the number of places available.

The 2025/2026 academic year, based on the 2025 G.C.E. (Advanced Level) examination after re-scrutiny. The University Grants Commission published the table on 31 July 2026, and it covers 260 course and university combinations across all 25 districts.

Because 55% of the places on every course are shared among the 25 districts in proportion to population, then ranked within each district. A district with fewer strong applicants for a course can admit on a lower Z-score, and one with many can require a higher one. Only the 40% all-island merit stream ignores district entirely.

No Qualified Candidates: nobody from that district entered that course that year. It can mean the district quota was already filled by all-island merit selections, that candidates with higher Z-scores from elsewhere took the places, or that no one from the district met the minimum requirements. It is not a cut-off of zero, and this tool never treats it as one.

No. Cut-offs are an outcome of one year's competition, not a threshold carried forward. A course whose cut-off was 1.6500 last year can settle higher or lower this year depending on how many people apply and how they perform. Treat a past cut-off as a guide to how competitive a course is, not as a bar you have cleared.

A course marked all-island merit fills 100% of its places on island-wide Z-score rank, with no district quota, so your district makes no difference to it. A course marked aptitude test additionally requires a subject-oriented practical or aptitude test, which you must pass separately from the Z-score requirement.

Directly from the UGC's published cut-off table for 2025/2026, transcribed by script rather than by hand and checked cell by cell against a second independent pass - 260 course rows across 25 districts, 6,500 values, every one matching. The source document is linked on the page.

You cannot know in advance, because the cut-off for any given year is the outcome of that year's applications rather than a published entry requirement. Comparing your Z-score against last year's cut-off for your district tells you whether you were in range, not whether you will be admitted.