Pupil Assessment

In the correspondent training (only for students, who have reached the age of 16) just an annual assessment is made.

At the end of IV, VII and X grade, a national external assessment shall be conducted for establishing the level of achievement of the competencies for the relevant stage, defined by the state educational standard for the general educational preparation.

Except individual and group the assessment may be national (it shall cover students of one grade in the whole country), regional (it shall cover students of one grade within the frames of one or several regions) or school (it shall cover students of one grade within the frames of a certain school.)

The pupils from I to III grade including, no quantity marks shall be put.

Pupils’ achievements in the primary stage are evaluated according to the expected results outlined in the syllabi for every grade and subject. Children from 1^st grade go through an evaluation of their level of readiness for school at the beginning of the school year. The results help teachers differentiate and tailor the study process according to pupils’ individual needs. At the beginning and the end of the academic year, pupils from grades 2 to 8 do written tests, which register their individual progress. Current assessment of 1st grade pupils is done through qualitative indicators only. The results of the current assessment of pupils from 2^nd grade on is expressed by both qualitative and quantitative indicators – Excellent (6), Very good (5), Good (4), Fair (3) and Poor (2).

The pupil completes the grade if his/her annual grade is not less than Fair (3). Term and annual grades are formed on the basis of students’ academic performance throughout the year. A Poor (2) grade in a subject for the year means that the student should sit for a correction exam and if he/she fails again, he/she repeats the grade.

All pupils' grades from 2^nd grade on are written in their grade books and the class registers.

Primary school pupils (1^st to 4^th grade), who do not master the study content, do not repeat the grade. Instead, teachers work with them individually.

Assessment in the whole system of education is both internal and external. The teacher is the one who does internal assessment. The school principal and the administrative officers from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science and the Regional Inspectorates of Education conduct external assessment. Assessment is done through regular checkups, assessments for establishing the level of attainment of the State Educational Requirements (SER) for study content. The different types of regular assessment on every subject are stipulated in SER and in the syllabi. They can include:

• oral examinations;
• written examinations;
• practical examinations.

Examinations are individual, group or including all the students in a class.

Minimum number of examinations is stipulated depending on the number of hours the students has studied a particular subject. For subject studied for only one hour a week or every two weeks there is no term grade but only an annual one.

Assessment in the process of school education aims to determine the results achieved by the pupils in the academic subjects during the school year - the compulsory, core curriculum optional and free-elective subjects.

Final grades for each subject are awarded upon completion of basic education.

Over the last six years tests have become the leading form of internal and external assessment. At the end of 4^th and 7^th grade all students go through standardised national external assessment tests in all main academic fields they have studied.

External assessment outcomes serve policy makers as an indicatoin about the state of the educational system as a whole. Aiming at encouraging all students to take active part in education, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science started a programme of financing additional school hours for either talented students or ones who are lagging behind.

Progression of Pupils

Pupils, having finished their training in I, II and III grade shall be issued a certificate for a finished grade. Students, who have finished their training in IV grade shall receive a certificate for a finished primary stage of education which give right to continuation of the training in the secondary stage of education.

A student, who is in a self-study or correspondent form, in case of repeating the grade shall be trained and shall sit examinations only in the school subjects, or modules in which he has a poor mark.

At the end of 1^st grade all pupils get a certificate for completion where the overall annual grade is only qualitative: Satisfactory, Good, Very good or Excellent. The annual results of pupils from grades 2, 3 and 4 is registered in their grade books, which verifies the completion of the grade. Pupils who complete grade 4, are issued a certificate of completed primary stage with the annual grades in all compulsory and elective subjects studied in that grade.

Admission to the lower secondary stage is free, but pupils are admitted to specialized classes (for example, such with intensive instruction in mathematics, arts, sports) after passing an exam.

The results from lower secondary education – grades 5^th to 8^th are registered as current, end of term and annual grades in students' grade books. Students' average grade for the year and their progress to the next grade are also registered in pupils’ mark books.

Students who have not attained the educational minimum sit for corrective exams. Those who do not take the corrective exam or receive a Poor (2), repeat the grade. Students from grades 1^st to 4^th, who do not master the study content in a satisfactory manner, do not repeat the grade. Instead, they receive additional help from their teachers.

A pupil passes from basic school to secondary school without an examination through his/her basic school certificate. Enrolment at profile-oriented schools after completing 7^th or 8^th grade (language schools, school of mathematics, technical schools, etc.) is on the basis of entrance examinations.

Certification

Students, who have finished VII grade, shall acquire secondary education, which shall be certified by a certificate for a secondary education. The certificate shall give the right to continuation if the training in the upper level of education, as well as to training for acquiring a vocational qualification.

Completion of basic education is certified with a Certificate of Completed Basic Education, which is final. The certificate of basic education is obtained after the completion of grade 8. It entitles its holder to continue his/her education or vocational qualification or exercise professions requiring completed basic education. The certificate includes the annual grades obtained in the subjects studied in year 8, as well as the grades obtained in the chosen subjects.

The overall score for completed basic education is calculated with an accuracy of up to 0.01. It is an average of the grades in the subjects in the respective fields: Bulgarian Language and Literature, Mathematics, Informatics and Information technologies, Social Sciences and Civic education, Natural Sciences and Ecology, Arts, Sports and Technologies. There are no examinations upon completion of grade 8.