From test day to certificate: the ULIS timeline
At ULIS, VSTEP results come out 3 to 5 days after the test, a re-mark must be requested within 3 days of the results at 800,000 VND per request, and the certificate is issued 14 working days after the test, then collected in person at Room 201B, Building B3 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those rules are in the ULIS 2026 administration plan and the 14 November 2026 notice, re-read on 21 October 2026. What people get wrong is the pickup window: a certificate you do not collect in time is, by ULIS's own notice, not issued later. This page walks through every step, with real dates from the 2026 sittings, and ends with how to verify a certificate and how long it stays usable.
| Step | ULIS rule | Real example (12 September 2026 sitting) |
|---|---|---|
| Results | 3 to 5 days after the test | Results notice posted 17 September |
| Re-mark request | Within 3 days of results; 800,000 VND per request | 17 to 20 September, per the English results notice |
| Re-mark result | Published with the next sitting's results | By the rule, with the 10 October sitting's results |
| Certificate issued | 14 working days after the test, weekends and holidays excluded | Pickup opened 29 September |
| Pickup window | Tuesdays and Thursdays; within two months of issue (2026 plan) | 29 September to 1 December 2026 |
For the two remaining 2026 sittings, the same rules give these dates. They are our arithmetic, not dates ULIS has announced; ULIS posts the real ones in a notice for each sitting.
| Sitting | Results (3 to 5 days) | Certificate (14 working days) |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 14 Nov 2026 | about Tue 17 to Thu 19 Nov | about Thu 3 Dec |
| Sat 12 Dec 2026 | about Tue 15 to Thu 17 Dec | about Thu 31 Dec |
How to look up your result (tra cứu kết quả)
ULIS posts a results notice for each sitting ("Tra cứu kết quả thi VSTEP.3-5 ngày thi ..." in Vietnamese, "Result of VSTEP.3-5" in English). The lookup itself is on the registration portal.
- Open vstep.vnu.edu.vn/dangky and choose "TRA CỨU ĐIỂM THI".
- Enter your lookup code. The 10 October 2026 notice says the code is your CMND, CCCD or passport number; the English notice for 12 September adds "including letters", which matters for passport numbers.
- Note the scores shown and your final score, and work out where you sit against the cut-offs: 4.0 for B1, 6.0 for B2, 8.5 for C1. Our score scale page explains how the four skills make the average.
- Read the results notice itself for the exact re-mark window. It is short, and it starts on the day results come out.
Check your result as soon as the notice is posted, even if you are confident. If you need a re-mark, a day spent waiting is a third of your window.
Re-marks (phúc khảo): window, fee and when it is worth it
The rules, from the 2026 plan, the 14 November notice and the 10 October results notice:
| Point | ULIS rule |
|---|---|
| Window | Within 3 days after the results are announced. For the 10 October 2026 sitting: from 12 October to the end of 14 October. |
| Fee | 800,000 VND per request ("800.000 VNĐ/1 đơn"), paid by transfer through the portal. |
| How | On the dangky portal, choose "ĐĂNG KÝ PHÚC KHẢO ĐIỂM THI", enter your registration code and ID number, and tick the skills: Đọc (Reading), Nghe (Listening), Viết (Writing), Nói (Speaking). |
| Result | Published at the same time as the results of the next sitting. |
The notices price a re-mark per request (đơn) and the form lets you tick more than one skill. They do not say whether one request covers several skills. If you want two skills re-marked, ask the Testing Office before you pay (email khaothi.ulis@gmail.com, telephone 024 6260 1376 in office hours, both from the ULIS notice).
The timing matters as much as the fee. Because the re-mark result comes with the next sitting's results, a re-mark on the 14 November sitting reports alongside the 12 December results, in mid-December. If your deadline is before then, register for the next sitting as well and treat the re-mark as a bonus, not a plan.
Is a re-mark worth 800,000 VND? (TalkDrill's judgement, worked example)
Our example candidate (not a real person) needs B2 and gets Listening 6.5, Reading 6.0, Writing 5.0, Speaking 5.5. The average is 5.75, a quarter point under the B2 line. Writing and Speaking are marked against criteria (ULIS publishes a summary of each), so they are where a second judgement is most likely to differ; Reading and Listening are multiple choice. One half point more in Writing or Speaking would bring the four skills to 23.5, an average of 5.875, still under 6.0 on a strict reading; a full point would reach 6.0. So the decision rests on how far below the line you are.
| Your situation | Our suggestion |
|---|---|
| Average a quarter point below a cut-off, one productive skill far below your mock scores | A re-mark of that skill is a reasonable bet, if the result will arrive before your deadline. |
| Average half a point or more below the cut-off | Spend the fee on the next sitting and the time on practice. Half a point under the line means the four skills are two points short in total, so the re-marked skills would have to rise by two full points between them. |
| All four skills close to your mock scores | The result is probably right. Register for the next sitting. |
Collecting the certificate: days, room and documents
ULIS posts a certificate schedule ("Lịch trả chứng chỉ") for each sitting once certificates are ready. The one for the 12 September 2026 sitting, re-read on 21 October 2026, is the model:
| Point | What the ULIS notice says |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | Tuesdays and Thursdays, 08:00 to 11:30 and 14:00 to 16:30 |
| Place | Room 201B, Building B3, ULIS, VNU Hanoi |
| Window | 29 September to 1 December 2026 for that sitting; the 2026 plan says within two months of the date of issue |
| You collect | Bring the original of a valid CMND, CCCD or passport |
| Someone collects for you | An authorisation letter confirmed and stamped (red seal) by a competent authority, plus notarised copies of the ID of both people. The form is on the ULIS forms page |
| After the window | Candidates who do not come are treated as not needing the certificate, and ULIS will not organise issue |
One more rule sits on the registration portal. Its certificate-registration form ("Đăng ký cấp chứng chỉ") notes that candidates who paid a test fee of 1,200,000 VND or more do not need to register for the certificate; those who paid less must. At the 1,800,000 VND ULIS fee you are above that line, so you do not need that form.
If you live outside Hanoi, the proxy route needs planning: the letter must be confirmed and stamped, and both ID copies notarised. Arrange it while you wait for the results, not after.
Verifying a certificate online (xác thực chứng chỉ)
Employers and universities can check a ULIS certificate on the ULIS verification page (OCV), read on 21 October 2026. How it works:
- Find the "Số vào sổ" (register number) printed on the certificate.
- Type it exactly as printed, letters, numbers, spaces and hyphens included. ULIS's example: for ULIS-N20 001598, type the hyphen between ULIS and N20 and the space between N20 and 001598.
- The page returns the certificate record if it exists.
| What the lookup covers | What it does not |
|---|---|
| English certificates and certificates of attainment (giấy chứng nhận) issued by ULIS for proficiency exams held from 1 January 2017 | Certificates issued by other universities: verify those with the issuing university |
| A quick check for reference | A legal confirmation. ULIS says the data is for reference only; for an official written confirmation, contact its Testing Centre, Room 106, Building A4, telephone 024 6260 1376 |
ULIS's English "Certificate verification" page shows the same lookup but an older date range (1 January 2017 to 17 April 2021). The Vietnamese OCV page, which ULIS links from its 2026 notices, says "từ ngày 01/01/2017 đến nay" (to the present). Use the OCV page.
The certificate itself follows the template set by MOET, per the ULIS notice, which links a sample at the same OCV address. If you are an employer checking a candidate, compare the personal details on the certificate with the candidate's ID document, then run the lookup.
How long is a VSTEP certificate valid?
"Chứng chỉ VSTEP có thời hạn bao lâu" is one of the most searched VSTEP questions, and the honest answer has two parts.
What is official. No ULIS page we read prints an expiry date for the certificate. For master's admission, MOET Circular 23/2021/TT-BGDĐT asks for a certificate that is "còn hiệu lực tính đến ngày đăng ký dự tuyển": still valid on the date you register for admission. The circular does not define how long a VSTEP certificate is valid, so the school applies its own rule. The same circular also accepts, instead of a certificate, a university degree issued by the same institution within the last two years if that programme's output standard already met Level 3.
What is common (our judgement, not a rule). Many institutions accept only recent certificates, and two years is a commonly cited window. It mirrors international tests: ielts.org says IELTS results are considered valid for two years after the test, and the ETS handbooks say a TOEIC score report will not be reissued if two years have passed since the test. None of that binds a VSTEP certificate. Read the notice for your purpose, and if it says nothing, ask in writing.
| Your purpose | Where the validity rule lives |
|---|---|
| Bachelor's graduation standard | Your university's regulation on output standards (chuẩn đầu ra) |
| Master's admission or graduation | Circular 23/2021/TT-BGDĐT ("còn hiệu lực") plus the school's admission notice |
| Civil service or public employee post | The recruitment notice for that post |
| Private employer | The job advertisement or HR policy |
Wrong details, a missed pickup or a lost certificate
| Problem | What ULIS says, or what we suggest |
|---|---|
| Wrong name or date of birth on the room list | The room-lookup notice tells you to correct wrong information at the exam room, on the day. Do it then; it is far harder after the certificate is printed. |
| Missed the pickup window | The notice says ULIS will not organise issue after the window. Contact the Testing Office anyway, in writing, with your registration details (our suggestion; we cannot say what they will decide). |
| Lost certificate | No ULIS page we read describes a reissue procedure. For proof of a ULIS certificate, the OCV record and a written confirmation from the Testing Centre are the official routes; ask the Testing Office what replaces the paper. |
| Result not showing in the lookup | Check the results notice has been posted for your sitting, then try the ID number exactly as registered, including letters. |
ULIS contact details, from its notices: Testing Office (Bộ phận Khảo thí), Room 602, Floor 6, Building A1, ULIS; email khaothi.ulis@gmail.com; telephone 024 6260 1376 in office hours.
After your result: the next step either way
If you reached your level: note the pickup days, arrange a proxy if you need one, and once you have the certificate, run the OCV lookup yourself so you know the record is there before an employer or university checks. If your file needs an English test you have not yet chosen for another purpose, our VSTEP vs IELTS vs TOEIC page sets out which certificate suits which use.
If you fell short: decide on a re-mark within the window, then register for the next sitting without waiting for the re-mark result. The 12 December 2026 ULIS sitting takes registrations from 12 November to 2 December; dates and fees are on our lịch thi and fees page. Use your four skill scores to pick the skill with the cheapest half point, and follow the six-week B2 roadmap. If Speaking was the weak skill, do one timed three-part set a day from the Speaking practice bank and run the follow-up questions as an AI conversation on TalkDrill role-play practice. Everything else is on the VSTEP hub.