For a university or school exam, the term 「しけん」試験 [shi-ken] is used. Sometimes said rapidly to sound like "shhken." The term テスト [te-su-to] is also used as a loanword from English. 試し [ta-meh-shee] is also a trial run or attempt or try at something, to see how it goes. You can also add てみる [te-mee-roo] to verb connective て-forms to make any verb into a "try to Verb" statement -- やってみる [yat-te-mee-roo] "Try [to do] and see [what the result is]." Or してみる [shte-mi-roo] "[Try to] do and see [the results]."