The second round of trial high school leaving exams is starting

The second round of mock final exams organized by the Central Examination Board will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There will be trial exams in compulsory subjects: Polish, mathematics and English. School participation is voluntary.

This year, CKE proposed to schools to conduct trial exams on two dates – in January and March. The schedule of trial exams has been prepared so that their dates do not overlap with the winter holidays. This year, the two-week holidays were on three dates, depending on the province, between January 19 and March 1.

In the first round (January 12-16) there were mock exams in elective subjects: physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history, social studies, history of art, history of music and philosophy. Exams in these subjects are taken at the advanced level. In the second round (March 4-6), they will cover compulsory subjects at the high school leaving exam, taken at the basic level.

The Central Examination Commission recommends that schools conduct them in accordance with the schedule provided by it, under conditions similar to those applicable during the actual examination.

According to it:

• On March 4, in the morning, there will be a trial exam in Polish at the basic level,
• March 5 – mathematics at the basic level,
• March 6 – English at the basic level.

English is the most frequently chosen foreign language at the high school leaving exam, with 97.8% passing it last year. graduates.

According to CKE, in the case of trial high school leaving exams in Polish, mathematics and English, the exam papers will contain previously unpublished tasks. The Central Examination Commission made them available to schools in advance.

On the days of trial exams, the sheets will also be posted on the CKE website and on the websites of the district examination boards, so as to enable graduates and students who, for various reasons, cannot take part in the test at school, to take part in the test.

Exam sheets completed by students they will be checked by teachers in their home schools according to the assessment rules provided by CKE.

Director of the Central Examination Commission, Robert Zakrzewski, in information about mock exams, reminded that their conduct is voluntary.

“The eighth-grade trial exam and the high school leaving exam should be conducted solely for informational purposes, i.e. to enable students to work with the exam paper during the time allocated to solving exam tasks, and for diagnostic purposes, i.e. to identify the knowledge and skills that a given student has already mastered to a satisfactory degree, as well as the knowledge and skills that still require improvement,” he noted.

He emphasized that CKE considers it unjustified to issue grades expressed in numbers or letters as part of ongoing assessment based on the results of a trial exam in individual subjects obtained by a given student.

“It is necessary to provide each student with valuable feedback by indicating what he or she does well and what needs improvement. The results of the trial exam can also be used by teachers to identify the scope of knowledge and skills that require special attention,” Zakrzewski pointed out.

He noted that the tasks in the exam papers will cover all general and specific requirements specified in the core curriculum of general education for a given subject, therefore, before conducting a trial examination in this subject or subjects, it is advisable to inform students that they may not be able to solve some tasks correctly because a given area of ​​material has not yet been discussed during the lesson.

In the 2025/2026 school year, secondary school leaving exams in the main session will be held on May 4-30. The written exam session is scheduled for May 4-21, and the oral exam session for May 7-30. An additional Matura exam session for high school graduates who, due to health or unforeseeable reasons, will not take the exams on the main date is scheduled for June 1-16.

Each high school graduate must take three written exams at the basic level – in Polish, mathematics and a modern foreign language, and two oral exams – in Polish and a foreign language. High school graduates must also take one written exam at the advanced level, i.e. the so-called item to choose from. Those interested can take up to five more advanced level exams. (PAP)

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