In the next school year, changes are expected in national examinations, affecting both requirements for passing, as well as their organization and content, the head of the State Education Development Agency (VIAA), Inta Ozola, told journalists on Monday.
The changes will affect both primary and secondary school graduates, who since the 2022/2023 school year have been taking exams according to the new curriculum.
To obtain a certificate of general basic education, students must pass exams in Latvian, a foreign language, and mathematics. For secondary school students, it is required to pass exams in Latvian, mathematics, and a foreign language at least at the optimal level,
along with two exams from 14 available subjects at the advanced level.
Starting next school year, secondary school graduates will have to take a new centralized exam in biology, chemistry, or physics at the optimal curriculum level, or in general science at the general curriculum level. It is also planned to reduce the number of mandatory advanced-level exams from two to one and abolish the requirement to submit access materials for centralized exams in advanced courses.
For 9th-grade students, the foreign language exam is planned to be organized as a monitoring test. It is also planned that next year, primary school graduates will be required to achieve at least 15% of the score threshold in their exams.
The idea of reviewing the number of centralized exams is not new. Discussions on the matter have been raised in the Saeima several times, including last autumn.
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