Exemption from FDY
Students who can certify that they have passed one of the national and/or international foreign language examinations at a level determined by the university are entitled to begin undergraduate programs.
According to the latest instruction letter for Foreign Language Exam Equivalencies issued by the Centre for Selection and Placement of Students in order for an exam to be accepted as equivalent, it must be taken in a building owned by a state university if the test is taken in Turkey.
The "home edition” and “online versions" of the external exams are not accepted for exemption from the Foundation Development Year for undergraduate level students.
The following international exams and minimum scores will exempt students from the SU Foundation Development Year (FDY).
| Exams | Validity | Minimum Scores |
| PTE Academic | 2 years | 71 A minimum of 67 must be scored from each part) |
| TOEFL IBT | 2 years | 85* Starting from the Fall semester of the 2024-2025 Academic year (MyBest scores are not accepted) |
| CAE | 3 years | C |
| CPE | 3 years | C |
| YDS | 5 years | 90 |
| ELAE Stage 2 (Sabanci University's own Proficiency Exam) | 2 years | 70 |
*For the submission period from June 7th to June 27th 2024, the minimum valid TOEFL IBT score will remain 80. After this date, the minimum score will be 85 for all new and continuing students in the following external submission periods.
Those who have completed their high school education in a majority native English-speaking country, such as the USA, Canada or England, can also be exempted from the Foundations Development Year if they have attended an institution that the citizens of the country concerned attend for the last three years.
For exemption from SU FDY in 2023-2024 Summer Semester, submission dates of external exam test scores are June 7th to June 27th 2024.
Original reports of test scores need to be submitted to Nilay Konuşkan (schooloflanguages@sabanciuniv.edu) at School of Languages by e-mail.