Skip to content

One page, school to practice

The route into radiographer

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار الصحة والحياة— Health and Life Sciences

A-Level

  • Physicshelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Biologyhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Mathematicshelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Chemistryhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging

IB Diploma

  • Physics HL or SLhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Biology HL or SLhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Mathematics SL or abovehelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging

Advanced Placement

  • AP Physics 1helpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • AP Biologyhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Radiography and Medical Imaging

    The direct destination — running the imaging in a hospital or clinic, licensed and in demand.

    Four years plus an internship year in the Saudi system; three to four years in the UK. Licensed practice follows immediately.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi admission composite for applied medical sciences colleges.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • SCFHS classificationAfter the internship year

    The licence that lets you practise, and the thing that sets your scope and pay. The classification level follows your qualification, so the bachelor's versus diploma choice has consequences for the whole career.

  • IELTS or equivalentBefore enrolment or before working abroad

    Most Saudi health colleges teach in English, and registration in the UK, Australia or the Gulf requires an English score that is often higher than the university asked for.

    • Weekly, year-roundIELTS and TOEFL both run frequently at centres across the Kingdom; Duolingo and PTE can be sat at very short notice.
    • 3 to 13 days after the testResults, depending on the test. IELTS computer-delivered is among the fastest; paper-based is slower.
    • Autumn of Grade 12 at the latestWhen to have sat it by, leaving room for one repeat before offers are decided.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school — health and life sciences track (مسار الصحة والحياة)3 yr
  2. undergraduateBSc in Radiologic Technology or Medical Imaging, at an applied medical sciences college4 yr
  3. trainingInternship year in a hospital imaging department1 yr
  4. licensingSCFHS classification and registration as a health practitioner0–1 yrs
  5. practiceRadiographer, then specialising into a modality0 yr

LicensingSCFHS classification and registration are required to practise. The classification level follows your qualification, so a bachelor's and a diploma do not lead to the same scope or the same pay — that decision is made at eighteen and lasts a career.

United States · Associate degree route — the majority path, no bachelor's required

  1. schoolHigh school with biology, physics and mathematics4 yr
  2. trainingAccredited associate degree or certificate in radiologic technology — 73% hold an associate degree, 17% a post-secondary certificate2–3 yrs
  3. licensingNational certification and state licensure0–1 yrs
  4. practiceRadiologic technologist0 yr

LicensingNational certification plus state licensure, with continuing education to keep it. No bachelor's degree is required — this is one of the shortest routes to a licensed clinical profession in the US.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 5–6 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 2 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 280,000–440,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 2–4 years.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.