ALES Past Questions: How to Practise with Previous Exams

Past ALES Questions

Past ALES questions are published only by ÖSYM and are held as PDFs on ÖSYM’s document server. On 21 September 2026, the full question files of the 35 sessions from the years 2006–2021, and the 10% booklets of the 32 sessions from the years 2014–2026, were accessible on this server. The three tables below contain all of them.

ALES is the central exam administered by the Assessment, Selection and Placement Centre (Ölçme, Seçme ve Yerleştirme Merkezi) and used in applications to graduate programmes and in the recruitment of academic staff (Academic Personnel and Graduate Education Entrance Exam — Akademik Personel ve Lisansüstü Eğitimi Giriş Sınavı). The name of the exam was LES in 2006; from 2007 onwards it has been administered under the name ALES. ÖSYM named the sessions “İlkbahar” (Spring) and “Sonbahar” (Autumn) until 2018, and ALES/1, ALES/2 and ALES/3 from 2018 onwards.

The files are of two kinds. Full question files contain all of the questions of a session; ÖSYM keeps these on its server for the sessions up to 2021. The Temel Soru Kitapçığı (Basic Question Booklet) is the official document in which ÖSYM publishes, after an exam it has administered, that exam’s questions together with the answer key; from 2014 onwards these booklets contain 10% of the questions. For preparation as a whole, the guide explaining how to study for ALES can also be reviewed.

Which are the 2006–2021 ALES full question booklets?

ÖSYM’s document server holds the full question files of 35 sessions, from LES May 2006 through to 2021-ALES/3. In the years 2006–2008, ÖSYM published the tests and their answer keys as separate files. In 2009 and afterwards the answer key is at the end of the same PDF as the question booklet; for those years th

e “Answer key” link opens that same file directly on the page where the answer key is found. All of the files in the table were opened and checked on 21 September 2026. Some browsers disregard the page number and open the file from the first page; in that case the answer key is on the last pages of the file.

No file for 2020-ALES/3 could be found on ÖSYM’s server on 21 September 2026. Nor is there a full question file for the sessions from 2022 onwards; only the 10% booklets of those years have been published. Those who would like to compare the question types of earlier years against the current topic headings can look at the article setting out the ALES topics.

Which 10% ALES booklets are available for 2018–2026?

ÖSYM has published 10% of the Basic Question Booklet and answer key of 23 sessions in the years 2018–2026. The most recent is the 2026-ALES/2 booklet dated 2 August 2026. For the sessions of 2022 and afterwards, these booklets are the only publicly available source. In the table, each session’s ÖSYM announcement page and PDF file are given in separate columns.

According to ÖSYM’s announcement dated 2 August 2026, candidates who applied for the exam can access all of the questions through the Candidate Operations System (Aday İşlemleri Sistemi — AİS) for 10 days. The test and timing structure of the exam is also dealt with in the article explaining how many minutes ALES lasts and how many questions it consists of.

Which are the 2014–2018 İlkbahar and Sonbahar 10% booklets?

ÖSYM published 9 10% booklets for the İlkbahar and Sonbahar periods in the years 2014–2018. Since the full question files of those same sessions appear in the first table, these booklets are of most use to those who want to see the answer key in a single file.

How should you study with these booklets?

The sessions from 2006–2021 that have full question files can be worked through as timed practice exams. According to the 2026-ALES Application Guide, the exam consists of 100 questions — 50 quantitative (Sayısal) and 50 verbal (Sözel) — with a time limit of 150 minutes. The 10% booklets from 2022 onwards are the best indication of the current question style.

Keep in mind that older sessions may not match the 2026 exam structure. In 2006–2008, for instance, the quantitative section was split across two separate tests.

A workable sequence:

1. Work through the full 2021, 2020 and 2019 files under timed conditions.

2. Compare them against the 2022–2026 booklets to see which question types are current.

3. Log your mistakes by question type, then go back to those topics and study them.

4. If you still have time, work backwards through 2018 and earlier.

Sorting your mistakes by category — rather than counting them — is what turns a practice session into study material.

Frequently asked questions

About Mezun Kampüsü
Mezun Kampüsü is a platform that brings together in a single place the graduate programmes of the universities in Turkey, their application calendars and their academic announcements. Candidates preparing for ALES can examine and compare, through Atlas, the programmes they are able to apply to with their scores; can follow the application periods from the Tarihler (Dates) section; can watch the universities’ current notices from the Duyurular (Announcements) section; and can create a free application through the Üniversiteler (Universities) page.

Legal Notice

This page has been prepared for general information purposes only; it is not an official source, an exam guide or a consultancy service. All of the links on the page direct to files published on ÖSYM’s own server. Mezun Kampüsü does not copy, host, reproduce or republish any of these files; it merely lists ÖSYM’s publicly available addresses together in one place.

The exam questions are works within the scope of the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works and the copyright belongs to ÖSYM. All rules concerning the use of the questions are written in ÖSYM’s relevant announcements; the user who clicks a link opens the file from ÖSYM’s server and becomes subject to the conditions ÖSYM has laid down.

The list of links on this page was produced through an AI-assisted research and compilation process. The file addresses were collected automatically from the announcement pages published by ÖSYM, and a portion of them was checked by hand. This method may lead to some of the addresses changing over time, ceasing to work or being matched incorrectly. Mezun Kampüsü does not warrant that the links are complete, current or free of error.

Mezun Kampüsü cannot be held responsible for any direct or indirect harm that may arise from decisions taken on the basis of the information on this page, or from the content, the accessibility or the use of the linked files. For binding information concerning the exam, the application conditions, the evaluation and equivalence, only the ÖSYM guide of the relevant session and the legislation in force should be taken as the basis.

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