Starting school around the globe

Being this a forum with people around the world i wanted to share how kids start private school in Peru. I am refering only to private school since public school are only attended by people with few resources. That is different than in united states.
Lately moms in Peru (especially those working) are sending their kids at an early age (18 month) to preschool basically to socialize. At this age really they go to have a good time and play. Normally they do not make friends until they are 3 yeras old when they start interacting with their peers.
The year your child is going 4 he has an evaluation in the school you choose and according to that ‘test’ he is accepted in pre-kinder the year he goes on 5. It is very diffucult to understand what they can ask to a child this age. I think it is mostly phsycological. When my sons went to school (25 years ago) it started with kindergarten so they test them with english vocabulary they had to learn in preschool and things such as shoe lacing or buttoning. Now testing for pre.kinder they watch if the child is following orders correctly, knowing the colors, talking correctly, jumping on one foot … . At this age they barely can hold the caryon not to mention write anything.

Besides sharing your experience in your country maybe there is someone that can give us an idea of what else can they look for in a child this young to see if he is fit to enter pre-school.

Do not hesitated to comment, I do not expect someone with PHD in phsycology to give me his ideas.

My stepdaughter was evaluated by the private school her grandfather is paying for her to attend(we, nor her mother can afford to send her to a school that cost $10,000 a year for pre-k, in my mind that is outragous in Manitoba, but his money not mine so all the power to them. But a good Montessori school is $4000-$5000 a year here.)
She was asked colors, shapes, to talk about her family. They asked her to dress this little bear up for a fancy party, and was provided with different options (bathing suit, snowsuit, tux) and she had to select the right one. Basically they were just checking to make sure she could follow direction and didn;t have a major learning disability.