The admission test of pre-service teachers uses a knowledge test that has not explored the non-cognitive factors. This study is focused on considering the basic abilities, logical thinking abilities, gender, level of cognitive development and the type of pre-service teacher programme. Moreover, other factors, such as motivation, role of life experiences and verification of logical thinking test result (TOLT), were also contemplated. This study applied TOLT to 281 pre-service math-science teachers from four different programmes. This study also developed a multiple mini interview modification with expert screening methods that have validity, reliability and homogeneity parameters based on Aiken's criteria. Our study provides an alternative to reformulate the selection test that combines paper-based tests with interviews as an admission test for preservice teacher candidates. Our results also illustrate how gender and cognitive development affect the basic abilities based on their programme. Furthermore, admission tests should have balanced cognitive and non-cognitive factors.