# Sri Lanka University Cut-Off Marks 2025/2026

Page: https://hirantha.me/updates/university-cutoff-marks
Source: University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka, 2026-07-31

Minimum Z-scores for every course at every state university, searchable by district. Check what you would have qualified for.

The minimum Z-score actually needed for selection to each course at each state university, for the 2025/2026 academic year, based on the G.C.E. (A/L) 2025 results. Enter your Z-score and district to see what you would have qualified for, compare universities for the same course, or see how a course differs across all 25 districts.

Selection to Sri Lankan state universities is by Z-score, not raw marks. The Z-score standardises your performance against everyone who sat the same subjects in the same year, which is what makes results comparable across subject combinations of differing difficulty.

Most courses are filled under a district quota system: 40 percent of places go on all-island merit, 55 percent are distributed across the 25 districts in proportion to population, and 5 percent are reserved for the 16 districts the UGC classifies as Educationally Disadvantaged (EDD), flagged directly in the district picker. This is why the same course at the same university has a different cut-off depending on which district you applied from - and why a lower Z-score from one district can be selected while a higher one from another is not.

A handful of courses are marked as all-island merit, meaning no district quota applies and everyone competes against the same threshold. Others require a practical or aptitude test on top of the Z-score. Both are flagged on every row here, because both change what the number means.

The A/L stream filter narrows the table to courses your stream actually admits from, reading directly from the UGC Admissions Handbook's own Section 2 course listing - not a guess from the course name, which is why 'Business Science' correctly filters under Physical Science and Commerce despite the name, and why the six main streams plus the 47-course multi-stream list are each transcribed separately. A stream is one real eligibility gate; it does not model every course's finer subject-and-grade conditions on top, which the handbook itself is linked below for.

The near-miss slider controls how close a 'just missed' result has to be to show up - widen it to see what a modest improvement would open, or narrow it to see only the closest calls.

NQC means No Qualified Candidates. Per the UGC's own note this can happen three ways: the district quota for that course was already filled by students from that district, the course filled up with higher Z-scores from other districts, or nobody from that district met the minimum requirements. It is not a Z-score of zero, and it does not mean the course is closed to your district next year.

Reading the table:
| What you see | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| A number | The lowest Z-score actually selected for that course from that district last year. |
| NQC | No qualified candidates from that district - quota filled elsewhere, or nobody met the requirements. |
| All-island merit | No district quota. Everyone competes against the same single threshold. |
| Aptitude test | A practical or aptitude test was required in addition to the Z-score. |

Q: Are these the cut-off marks for next year?
A: No. These are the minimum Z-scores that were actually selected for the 2025/2026 intake, from the G.C.E. (A/L) 2025 results. They are the best available guide to what a course typically demands, but next year's figures depend on next year's applicants and can move in either direction. Treat them as a strong indication, not a threshold you are guaranteed to clear.

Q: Why is the cut-off different for each district?
A: Because most places are allocated under a district quota, not purely on merit. Forty percent of places go on all-island merit, 55 percent are shared across districts by population, and 5 percent go to educationally disadvantaged districts. So the last student selected from one district may have a very different Z-score from the last student selected from another for the same course.

Q: What does NQC mean in university cut-off marks (Z-score)?
A: NQC stands for No Qualified Candidates. It is not a Z-score of zero. The UGC lists three causes: the district quota for that course was already filled by students from that district, the places were filled by higher Z-scores from other districts, or no candidate from that district met the minimum requirements for the course.

Q: Does meeting the Z-score guarantee I get in?
A: No. The Z-score is one requirement. Courses also have subject and stream requirements that this table does not cover, and some courses are not taught in all three languages, so a student can meet the Z-score and still not be selected. Always check the UGC handbook for the specific course.

Q: Does this tell me which A/L stream I need?
A: Yes, for the stream-level gate - the A/L stream filter reads the UGC Admissions Handbook's own course listing (Section 2), not a guess from the course name, so choosing your stream narrows the table to what you may actually apply for. It stops short of the handbook's finer per-course conditions on top of that (specific subject grades, O/L requirements for a few multi-stream courses) - the Sources link below goes straight to that document for the exact wording on any one course. The separate Field filter is different and unrelated: it groups courses by subject area purely to make browsing 260 entries manageable, and is not an eligibility statement at all.

Q: Will this page have next year's cut-off marks too?
A: Yes - this page (not a new one) gets the next academic year's figures added to it as soon as the UGC publishes them, the same way its companion Grade 5 Scholarship page already holds three years side by side. The address moved off a year-locked URL on 2026-09-04 specifically to make that possible without losing this page's standing in search results; the old 2025-2026 address forwards here permanently.

Q: Where does this data come from?
A: The University Grants Commission's published minimum Z-score table for university admission, academic year 2025/2026, based on the G.C.E. (A/L) 2025 results after re-scrutiny, for the figures - and the UGC's own Admissions Handbook, Section 2, for which A/L stream(s) each course admits from. Nothing here is estimated or interpolated - every figure and every stream is transcribed from one of those two documents.

Q: Why can I not find a course I know exists?
A: The table only lists courses that admitted students in this cycle through the standard Z-score route. Courses filled entirely through other routes, or that admitted nobody at all, will not appear.

Q: Can I use this on my phone?
A: Yes. Everything runs in your browser with no account needed, and the whole table works on a phone - which is where most people check this.

Q: Are the 2025 cut-off marks the same as the 2026 cut-off marks?
A: Yes, when people say '2025 cut-off marks' and '2026 cut-off marks' they are almost always both referring to this same table. The UGC calls it the '2025/2026 academic year' intake - selection based on the G.C.E. (A/L) 2025 exam, for the academic year that starts in 2026. It is one released dataset, not two.

Q: What is the Z-score for a specific university or course?
A: There is no single Z-score per university - each course at each university has its own minimum, and it varies by district too. Use the search and filters above to find the exact course and district you want; do not rely on an average, which would hide the real number you need.

Sources: University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka (https://www.ugc.ac.lk/); Minimum Z-scores for the 2025/2026 academic year, English (UGC, PDF) (https://www.ugc.ac.lk/downloads/admissions/cutoff_2026/COP_2025_2026-ENGLISH_Final.pdf); UGC Admissions Handbook 2024/25 (subject-stream eligibility, Section 2) (https://www.ugc.ac.lk/downloads/admissions/Handbook_2024_25/student_handbook_english.pdf)

The full, searchable tables are on the page: https://hirantha.me/updates/university-cutoff-marks