Central Matura Starts Next Week
A few more will take the Latin exam on May 6, before things get serious for all approximately 41,400 graduates with German on May 7. The following day, mathematics, the subject with the highest failure rate, is on the agenda, and with English on May 9, the written final exams are over for most.
The central final exams will then conclude with the exams in French and the minority language Slovenian (May 12), Spanish and the other two minority languages Croatian and Hungarian (May 13), as well as Italian (May 14). The only subject in which the exams are uniform for all participating students is German. In all other subjects, there are differences depending on the type of school or, in foreign languages, the number of years taught.
Central Final Exams: VWA Requirement Dropped
There are no major changes in the written final exams this year - unlike with the pre-scientific paper (VWA). Since this school year, there is no longer a requirement at AHS to write a pre-scientific paper (VWA) of 40,000 to 60,000 characters as part of the final exams. Instead, the result of a research, creative, or artistic process can be submitted as a "Final Project" or - only until 2028/29 - an additional oral or written exam can be chosen.
Presumably also due to the short-term change decided only in the middle of last year, nearly half of the graduates still stuck with the VWA: 44 percent kept their chosen and already approved topic. 54 percent chose the additional oral or written exam. Only relatively few opted for the new "Final Project," namely 371. Specifically, 54 young people created a research project, 149 a creative project, and 168 an artistic project. This could be a multimedia product, a video report, a podcast, or an empirical survey and its interpretation.
40,100 Math Exam Booklets Ordered
Back to the central final exams: How many students will actually take part in this year's central final exams cannot be said in advance. For the subject German, where the exam is mandatory for all graduates, nearly 19,800 exam booklets were ordered at high schools, according to the Ministry of Education, and another approximately 21,600 at vocational higher schools (BHS; such as HAK, HTL, Bafep). For mathematics or applied mathematics, there were a total of around 40,100 orders, and for English 25,800. There are significantly fewer candidates in the other modern foreign languages, with French, for example, having not even 1,800. For Latin, nearly 2,300 exam booklets were ordered, and for Ancient Greek just 32. Additionally, there are those who are taking the vocational maturity exam.
Of the relief measures introduced during the pandemic (longer working time, voluntary oral final exams, etc.), only one, but probably the most important change, has been permanently adopted: Since 2020, the report card grade of the last class is included in the final exam grade. If, after including the annual grade, one is exactly between two grades, the exam grade "trumps." Those who had a satisfactory or better grade in the annual report are largely protected from failing by this regulation. Only if one achieves less than 30 percent of the possible points, it automatically results in a failing grade, regardless of the annual grade. This can be improved in a compensatory exam on May 27 or 28.
The written final exams are followed by the oral final exams starting at the end of May. Here too, the report card grades are included in the final exam grade.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.