AMIRNET guide
What is the AMIRNET exam?
It is the English placement exam run by NITE, Israel’s National Institute for Testing and Evaluation. Your score, on a scale of 50 to 150, decides how many English courses you take during your degree. From December 2026 it is the only exam that measures English for academic admission.
Updated September 2026
What the exam measures
AMIRNET is a computer-based English test used by academic institutions for placement. You register on the NITE site and sit it at NITE test centres around the country, and from time to time at the institutions themselves.
Scores are reported on a 50 to 150 scale. NITE states that an AMIRNET score is equivalent to a score on the English domain of the Psychometric Entrance Test and to the scores given in the past for AMIR and AMIRAM, so an institution that knows the old scale reads the new score the same way.
Why it matters more than it used to
Until now, English could reach your file through the psychometric exam. From December 2026 that route closes. The psychometric test will cover two domains only, verbal and quantitative, on the 200 to 800 scale, and English will be tested through AMIRNET alone.
There are two sides to that. AMIRNET becomes the only exam that sets your English level. It is also no longer tied to psychometric test dates, so you can sit it throughout the year, before or after the psychometric.
From the 2027/28 academic year, each institution decides for itself whether the English score counts toward admission or is used only for placement once you are in.
How the exam is built
The exam has either seven or eight sections. Six of them count toward your score, and together they hold 23 questions and 39 minutes.
| Section | Question type | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sentence completion | 4 | 4 min |
| 2 | Sentence completion | 4 | 4 min |
| 3 | Reading comprehension | 5 | 15 min |
| 4 | Restatement | 3 | 6 min |
| 5 | Restatement | 3 | 6 min |
| 6 | Sentence completion | 4 | 4 min |
On top of those, every examinee gets either two experimental sections or a single 12-minute writing task. Experimental sections carry little weight in the final score, if any: a wrong answer there costs nothing, and a right one can add a point or two.
Three details that change your tactics
The structure looks like housekeeping, but three details in it decide how the exam should be approached.
- Each section is timed on its own, and time you save in one section does not carry into the next. Rushing early buys you nothing.
- The exam adapts at the section level. It sets the difficulty of the next section from how you performed, rather than reacting question by question.
- Reading comprehension is the heavy section: five questions in 15 minutes, close to forty per cent of the exam clock. Losing control there is what damages the rest.
What to do with this
The first decision is not when to sit the exam. It is how far you are from the score you need. A short diagnostic gives you that number, and the plan follows from it: book a date, drill the weak parts, and arrive at an exam whose format is already familiar.
Common questions
How many times can I take AMIRNET?
As many times as you want. The one rule is a wait of at least 35 days between sittings.
Do I need native-level English to reach exemption?
No. The exam tests familiarity with its own format as much as it tests English, and strong speakers still lose points on pacing and on question types they have never seen.
Can I sit AMIRNET before the psychometric exam?
Yes. AMIRNET is not tied to psychometric dates. You can sit it throughout the year, before or after.
How long is a score valid?
NITE keeps scores for years. In its notice about the psychometric change it states that existing scores stay valid for at least seven years. The binding requirement is the one your institution publishes, so check there.
More in the AMIRNET guide
Score 134 and exemption
What exemption means, and why institutions answer differently.
AMIRNET, AMIR, AMIRAM
Three names, one scale. What differs and what counts.
How to prepare
What actually costs points, and how to plan backwards.
What a low score costs
Courses, semesters and timetable. The bill after the exam.
How far are you from 134?
Milulu’s diagnostic is short, free, and ends with one number: your distance from the exemption level.