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The form containing the names of high school graduates taking their matriculation exams will no longer be detached and placed in a separate small envelope as was previously done. 12th-grade students will write down their numbers and names, and during the scanning of the exam paper, this data will be automatically hidden by a blank white field. This ensures that none of the examiners will know whose paper they are reading.
Additionally, students will no longer need to carry a paper slip for exam admission; they can simply show it on their mobile phones. This was announced by the new leadership team of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) just days before the upcoming matriculation exams.
The first compulsory matriculation exam in Bulgarian Language and Literature, scheduled for May 20, will be held in 783 schools with 13,800 invigilators. This was detailed during a briefing featuring the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Georgi Valchev, Deputy Minister Dr. Tanya Pancheva, and experts responsible for organizing the national exams.
The identification form containing the student’s personal details will be permanently connected to the first answer sheet. This eliminates the need to separate it and place it in a small envelope, which previously had to be inserted alongside the exam paper into a larger envelope. This same streamlined procedure will also be applied to the national external evaluations for 7th-grade students.
The decision was made last year, and school principals were briefed at the beginning of this year to prepare the system, as this exact process has already been successfully used for several years during the 4th and 10th-grade national external evaluations.
“The procedure is already familiar to the school system,” said Deputy Minister Pancheva. She emphasized that the change poses absolutely no risk to the anonymity of the exams. During the scanning process, only the answer sheet is sent to the evaluators. Once the work is fully graded, the student’s identity is linked back using a unique barcode. Examiners have no way of knowing whose work they are grading. At the same time, this change removes the need to store, cut open small envelopes, and scan separate identification slips, which significantly reduces administrative tasks and speeds up the entire process.
For the May session, the MES will organize 88 individual state matriculation exams. As in previous years, students must write using a black ink pen.
The second compulsory exam on a profile subject will take place on May 22 across 1,434 schools, while the state exam for obtaining a professional qualification will be conducted in 617 schools.
More than 23,700 invigilators are assigned to support the state exams. Over 53,000 students have submitted applications to take the compulsory Bulgarian Language and Literature exam. For the second profile subject exam, there are over 24,000 applicants, and more than 28,000 have registered for the professional qualification exam.
For the second compulsory profile exam, English remains the most popular choice among graduates, drawing over 13,000 applications.
The results of the state matriculation exams will be announced by June 11. Following the release, graduates will have a three-day window to review their graded exam papers at the schools where they took them. As before, only technical errors can be contested and corrected. Students also retain the option to retake an exam to obtain a higher grade. While a retake does not alter the grade printed on the high school diploma, the new result can be used for university admission purposes.
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