With the beginning of the new school year again the issue of exams after 4th, 7th and 10th class becomes pressing. With attention to parents and students, the Ministry of Education and Science publishes the models of the national external evaluation (NEO), dariknews.bg reported.
4th grade: NVO
The national external evaluation by ♦ mathematics ♦ at the end of the 4th grade aims to establish the degree of achievement of each student in relation to the requirements for the results of mathematics learning at the end of the initial stage of basic education, determined by the State Educational Standard for general education and the curricula for general education in mathematics in grades 1 - 4, the Ministry of Education and Culture indicates.
The Higher Secondary School in Mathematics in the 4th grade will check the students' mathematical competence related to: knowledge about numbers and about the principle of formation of the series of natural numbers; numeracy skills – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; skills to find an unknown number; knowledge of units of measurement and skills for operations with uniform named numbers; skills to find the perimeter of a geometric figure and the face of a rectangle/square; skills to describe real-world situations with mathematical models; logical and spatial thinking skills; skills for reading information presented in different forms - table, graph, infogram, etc.
The mathematics test for HEIs contains 25 tasks. Solving the test involves recording the answers to the test tasks in a separate form. The duration is 60 minutes, and for students with special educational needs it is up to 30 minutes more than the specified time.
Here the changes are related to the fact that the test will again contain 25 tasks, but with a different number of different types. So far, the children have had 18 multiple-choice questions; 5 tasks with short free answer; 1 extended free response task and 1 text task with 3 extended free responses (with three sub-conditions). In 2024/25, multiple choice tasks are reduced to 16, short free response tasks to 4, extended free response tasks are increased from 1 to 4, and the extended free response task containing three sub-conditions remains one .
The selection of educational content tested in the academic year 2024– 2025, is based on expected outcomes of mathematics education in the following areas of
competence. There will be multiple choice, short free answer, extended free answer, and extended free answer questions containing three sub-conditions. The evaluation is carried out according to pre-established criteria, and each task is evaluated with a number of points determined according to its difficulty. The individual test result is formed as a sum of the obtained number of points for all tasks. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
The national external evaluation of ♦ Bulgarian language and literature (BEL) ♦ at the end of the 4th grade aims to establish the degree of achievement of each student in relation to the requirements for the results of learning Bulgarian language and literature at the end of the initial stage of basic education, determined by the State Educational Standard for
the general education preparation and with the curricula in Bulgarian language and literature for the general education preparation in the 1st - 4th grade, according to the Ministry of Education and Culture.
With the national external assessment of Bulgarian language and literature in the 4th grade, students' competences related to: application of basic rules of the Bulgarian literary language are checked; reading and understanding texts functioning in communicative practice; answer to a question related to the content of a text and/or to the interpretation of a specific communicative situation; creating a text with a specific communicative purpose.
The national external evaluation of the students of the 4th grade is carried out through a written examination - a test. The BEL test for HEIs at the end of the 4th grade contains 25 tasks with optional and free answers. Solving the test involves recording the answers to the test tasks on a separate form.
Tasks include: linguistic, literary, speech tasks of a creative nature. With the language tasks, mastery of the literary norms, which are basic for language culture, is tested, and with the literary tasks, the reading comprehension skills. The speaking task is of a creative nature and involves the creation of a short text (from 3 to 7 sentences) with the help of verbal and/or visual support.
The biggest change here is the removal of dictation and replacing it with text for editing and spelling errors. According to the Ministry of Education and Culture, this approach is traditionally used in education at the initial stage, and it will diversify the types of tasks. Baseline
verification goals will be met again
The time to solve the test is 60 minutes, and for students with special educational needs it is up to 30 minutes more than the allotted time. The selection of educational content tested in the academic year 2024– 2025, is based on the expected results of the training in Bulgarian language and literature from the areas of competence defined by the State Educational Standard for general education – language, communicative language, sociocultural, literary and communicative competences.
The evaluation is carried out according to criteria, and each test task carries a number of points according to its cognitive level, specificity and difficulty. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
7th grade – NGO
Nothing new is being asked here. The Ministry of Education and Culture has only stated a commitment to increasing the practical tasks measuring the students' skills, not their memorized knowledge.
The objectives of the NGO in ♦ Bulgarian language and literature ♦ in the 7th grade for evaluating the results of the students' learning includes: diagnosis of the individual progress and educational needs of the 7th grade students; monitoring of the educational process for the implementation of policies and measures aimed at improving the quality of education; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected results of the studies in Bulgarian language and literature, defined in the curriculum for the respective class; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected learning results at the end of the junior high school stage in Bulgarian language and literature, defined in the state educational standard for general educational preparation; using the results of the Higher Secondary Education in Bulgarian language and literature as a scoring element in the admission of students to the VIII grade.
The system of tasks in the Bulgarian language is determined by the mandatory educational content included in the curricula from the 5th to the 7th grade, applying the knowledge and skills acquired in the studies up to and including the 7th grade. The HVO exam is written. The level of competences of seventh graders is checked by a test with a total of 26 tasks. The duration of the first part is 75 minutes, the second part – 90 min.
It includes 18 structured-response items with four answer options, of which only one is correct; 6 tasks with short free answer; 1 task with extended free response; 1 text creation task. The evaluation is carried out according to criteria, and each test task carries a number of points according to its cognitive level, specificity and difficulty. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
The aims of the NGO in ♦ mathematics ♦ in the 7th grade for evaluating the results of the students' learning includes: diagnosis of the individual progress and educational needs of the 7th grade students; monitoring of the educational process for the implementation of policies and measures aimed at improving the quality of education; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected learning outcomes in mathematics, defined in the curriculum for the relevant class; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected results of mathematics training, defined in the state educational standard for general educational preparation, at the end of the junior high school stage; using the results of higher education in mathematics as a scoring element in the admission of students to the 7th grade.
The system of tasks in mathematics is determined by the compulsory educational content included in the curricula from the 5th to the 7th grade, applying the knowledge and skills acquired in the studies up to and including the 7th grade.
The exam is written. The level of competences of seventh graders is checked through a test with a total of 23 tasks. The duration of the first part is 75 minutes, the second part – 90 min.
20 questions are included, which are structured response with four answer options, of which only one is correct; 3 free answer tasks – students must describe and justify the performance of a certain mathematical task of an analytical-synthetic nature. The assessment is carried out according to criteria, with each test task carrying a number of points according to its cognitive level, specificity and difficulty. Grades from the national external assessment at the end of the 7th grade are expressed only with quantitative indicators – in number of points without equating to grades. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
The objectives of the NGO in ♦ foreign language ♦ in the 7th grade for evaluating the results of the students' learning includes: diagnosis of the individual progress and educational needs of the 7th grade students; monitoring of the educational process for the implementation of policies and measures aimed at improving the quality of education; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected learning outcomes defined in the curriculum; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected learning outcomes at the end of the junior high school stage, defined in the state educational standard for general education preparation; using the results of higher education in a foreign language (optional) as a scoring element for the admission of students to the 7th grade.
The purpose of the national external assessment is to establish at the end of the 7th grade the degree of achievement of the expected results of foreign language learning, defined in the curriculum
programs.
The object of measurement in foreign language tests is the students' communicative competence at language level A2 of the Common European Language Framework. The test components are based on the three language skills: reading, listening and writing. Language competences are tested through different types of tasks: multiple choice tasks, short free answer tasks and one task to create a written text.
The topics of the listening, reading and writing texts are: friends, interests, duties and responsibilities at school, at home, in public places, future profession, vacations and travel, hobbies and leisure, sports and healthy eating, shopping and fashion , natural sights, tourism and environment, culture and historical sights in Bulgaria and in the countries where the studied foreign language is spoken, holidays and traditions in Bulgaria and in the countries where the studied foreign language is spoken.
The evaluation is carried out according to criteria, and each test task carries a number of points according to its cognitive level, specificity and difficulty. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
10th grade – NGO
There will be no surprises in the exams in Bulgarian and mathematics for tenth graders.
The objectives of the NGO in ♦ Bulgarian language and literature ♦ in the 10th grade for evaluating the results of the students' training include: diagnostics of the individual progress and educational needs of the 10th grade students; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected results of the studies in Bulgarian language and literature, defined in the curriculum for the relevant class from the first high school stage; establishment of the degree of achievement of individual expected results of studies in Bulgarian language and literature at the end of the first high school stage, defined in the state educational standard (DOS) for general education preparation; measuring the degree of achievement of individual competencies related to reading comprehension as part of functional literacy; monitoring of the educational process for the implementation of policies and measures aimed at improving the quality of education.
The system of tasks in the Bulgarian language aims to establish the degree of achievement of individual expected results, defined in the DOS for general educational preparation for
the first high school stage and in the curricula for the 8th, 9th and 10th grades.
The level of competences is checked in writing through a test with a total of 21 tasks. The duration is 90 minutes (two combined study hours), and for students with special educational needs – up to 30 minutes beyond the allotted time. There are 13 multiple choice tasks, 5 short free response tasks, 1 editing task, 1 extended free response task (formulating a thesis or antithesis), 1 writing task (resume, application or CV).
The evaluation is carried out according to criteria, and each test task carries a number of points according to its cognitive level, specificity and difficulty. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
The objectives of the NGO in ♦ mathematics ♦ in the 10th grade for evaluating the results of student learning includes: diagnosis of individual progress and educational
needs of X class students; monitoring of the educational process for the implementation of policies and measures aimed at improving the quality of education; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected results of mathematics education, defined in the curriculum for the relevant class of the first high school stage; establishing the degree of achievement of individual expected results of mathematics training, defined in the state educational standard for general educational preparation, at the end of the first high school stage; measuring the degree of achievement of individual competences related to mathematics and mathematical literacy acquired in the classes of the first high school stage.
The system of tasks in mathematics is determined by the mandatory educational content according to the established curricula in mathematics from the 8th to the 10th grade, applying the knowledge and skills acquired in the studies up to and including the 10th grade.
The exam is written. The level of competences is checked in writing by means of a test with a total of 17 tasks. The duration is 90 minutes (two combined study hours).
15 multiple-choice questions are included, with four possible answers, of which exactly one is correct; 2 tasks with extended free response, for the solution of which the student presents the necessary justifications in writing.
The national external evaluation ♦ in IT ♦ for measuring digital competences at the end of the 10th grade aims to establish the achievement of the requirements for the results of information technology training at the end of the first high school stage, determined by the state educational standard for general education, and is in accordance with the European reference framework for digital competences at the “independent level of proficiency“ (europass.cedefop.europa.eu/bg/resources/digital-competences).
The level of competences is checked by means of a written test with a total of 21 tasks, and the duration is 90 minutes. The system of information technology tasks is determined by the mandatory educational content according to the approved information technology curricula from 8th to 10th grade, applying the knowledge and skills acquired in the studies up to and including the 10th grade.
There are two modules. The first is a test with 20 tasks, of which: 10 multiple-choice tasks, with four possible answers, of which exactly one is correct; 5 multiple-choice questions, with four possible answers, two of which are correct; 5 free answer tasks and the second module is a practical task.
The evaluation is carried out according to standardized criteria, and each task is evaluated with a number of points that corresponds to the specificity, difficulty and logic of the solution of the task.
The result of the VET in IT for measuring digital competences at the end of the 10th grade is entered in the certificate of completion of the first upper secondary stage and provided that the student has obtained a minimum of 50% of the maximum number of points in the exam, the achieved level is also recorded in accordance with the European reference framework for digital competences.
The objective of the national external evaluation of ♦ foreign language ♦ e to determine at the end of the 10th grade (end of the first high school stage) the degree of achievement of the expected results of foreign language learning, defined in the foreign language curricula at levels A1, A2, B1.1 and B1 for general education preparation , as well as in the state educational standard for general education. It also aims to diagnose the individual progress and educational needs of 10th grade students; monitoring of the educational process for the implementation of policies and measures aimed at improving the quality of education.
The object of measurement in foreign language tests is the students' communicative competence at language level A1, A2, B1.1 and B1 of the Common European Language Framework. The test components are based on the four language skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking. Language competences are tested through different types of tasks: multiple choice tasks, short free response tasks, writing tasks and speaking tasks.
The evaluation is carried out according to criteria, and each test task carries a number of points according to its cognitive level, specificity and difficulty. The maximum number of points in the exam is 100 points.
You can check everything about the National external assessment after the 4th, 7th and 10th grade HERE