[2] The exam is standardized, similar to the SAT and ACT examinations taken by high school students in the United States.

The purpose of the exam is to evaluate students' aptitude in five subjects: critical reading, mathematics, social studies, science, and English.

The institute also uses the results for research purposes and public policy design for the improvement of secondary education throughout Colombia.

A large portion of the math section is problem-solving, in which students are required to both analyze and draw conclusions from numerical data (like graphs and charts) or compute answers to a problem using previous mathematical knowledge.

The other portion of the exam requires knowledge in advanced topics like calculus, algebra, trigonometry, probability, and conic sections.

The social studies questions include a context or sources like charts, graphs, pictures, newspapers, or academic essays that the student must analyze to propose a solution to a problem.

The exam tests knowledge of the Colombian Constitution, economic principles, global history, national and international politics, and geography.

Questions usually require the student to explain or predict a phenomenon stated on a diagram or a text using previous knowledge.

ICFES manages the logistics of the exam but contracts different companies transport valuables that ensure the integrity of the test.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university decided to drop its own admission test and began considering the ICFES examination score as part of the entrance criteria.

This new version is more aligned with international exams such as the SAT and reduces the former eight compulsory subjects to five areas: critical reading, mathematics, social studies, natural science, and English.

In a televised ceremony called La Noche de Los Mejores ("The Evening of the Best Ones"), both the President of Colombia and the Education Minister give a medal known as "Distinción Andres Bello" to students who rank in the top 50 nationally or in the top 10 in each department of Colombia.

[9] Disadvantaged students who score highly on the exam can be recipients of Generación E, a state scholarship that grants them access to the most prestigious colleges and universities in Colombia.