The article presents a study on the assessment of critical thinking among applicants for admission to a master's degree in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The authors emphasize the importance of critical thinking for successful scientific and professional activities, emphasizing its relevance in the modern labor market. The main focus is on the development and testing of tests aimed at assessing readiness for graduate studies, which include tasks on critical and analytical thinking. The study used a quantitative descriptive method in which test developers, experts and members of the Republican Appeals Commission participated. The psychometric analysis confirmed the reliability and validity of the proposed test tasks, which indicates their effectiveness for the selection of undergraduates. The special value of the research lies in the systematization of the experience of evaluating critical and analytical thinking in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the results can be useful not only to test developers and experts, but also to candidates entering postgraduate education programs. As a result of the research, it was found that the developed test is an effective tool for assessing candidates' readiness for training and research activities, which contributes to improving the quality of students' training in accordance with modern requirements.