To graduate from upper secondary school, at least five upper secondary school final examinations must be taken either as a state examination or school examination. For students whose language of instruction is Estonian, an essay is an obligatory state examination; if Russian is the language of instruction, the state examination in the official language must be taken. A total of at least three examinations must be state examinations, but the student may choose to take all of the final examinations as state examinations. State examinations are integrated with the higher educational institution entrance examinations. One can choose from among 14 subjects: Estonian, Estonian as a second language, Russian, Russian as a foreign language, civic studies, mathematics, English, German, French, biology, geography, chemistry, history, and physics. Only one examination – either a state examination or school examination – may be taken in any given subject.
The examination period runs from April to the end of June.
The state examination questions and scoring guidelines are prepared at the National Examination and Qualification Centre, and examination results are scored in standardized form by specialists specially trained in this area country-wide. The state examinations are identical in all schools throughout Estonia and take place simultaneously. Completed examinations are anonymous, identified only with a code, and scored on a 100-point scale. An examination is considered to have been taken if a score of at least 20 points is received. The distribution of the average results of all examinations in the last four years based on the ECTS scale can be found at http://www.ekk.edu.ee/exam-results-on-ects-scale The average examination result is about 60 points and the standard deviation is 20 points.
The school examinations are selected, prepared and organized by the school. The school examinations are scored by members of the examination committee based on the school-approved scoring guidelines.
Students who successfully pass the state examination in Estonian as a second language (at least 60% of the maximum result) are awarded, in addition to the state examination certificate, a B2-level certificate of proficiency in Estonian.
Notification of examination results and e-certificate of completion of state examination
Students can find out their state examination results over the Internet through the State Portal (www.eesti.ee). To use this service, a student must have an ID card or agreement with an Internet bank. Examination results become available over the State Portal gradually as the examinations are scored.
Since 2009, Estonia issues the state examination certificate in electronic form. It can be downloaded from the state examination website. The e-certificate for state examinations has identical legal force to the certificate on hard copy issued in years past. The e-certificate bears a digital watermark that certifies the authenticity of the document.
