More Than 83 percent of Students to Sit Final Exams in English
Bratislava, February 14 (TASR) – A total of 43,605 secondary school leavers are about to take the so-called external form of secondary school leaving examinations this year, with more than 80 percent of the students sitting final exams in English, TASR learnt from the Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry’s communications department on Wednesday.
According to the National Institute for Certified Evaluations in Education (NUCEM), which draws up the final tests, the English language has confirmed its dominant position among foreign languages, as 36,376 individuals (83.4 percent) of the total number of secondary school leavers have chosen to take an exam in this subject. A total of 1,579 students will sit English exams at the highest C1 level, which is compulsory for those studying at bilingual grammar schools. [The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) features six reference levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) and serves as the European standard for grading an individual’s language proficiency. In Slovakia it’s possible to take secondary school leaving examinations in English at B1, B2 and C1 levels – ed. note].
“German again ended up as the second most frequent choice among school leavers in terms of foreign language subjects, as 3,397 students, or 7.8 percent, have chosen to sit a final exam in this language, 126 of them at the highest C1 level. German is followed by Russian, which was chosen by 878 students, of which 26 will take exams at the C1 level,” stated the Education Ministry, adding that the French language was selected by 33 students, Spanish by 13 and Italian by three.
As usual, the highest number of students – 40,259 – will sit secondary school leaving examinations in the Slovak language and literature.
The secondary school leaving examinations are set to take place between March 13-16.
[Students in Slovakia take secondary school leaving examinations in four subjects, of which Slovak language and literature and one foreign language are mandatory. The remaining two subjects are optional. – ed. note].
