More than 400 students fail Latvia’s first mandatory science exams

More than 400 students failed Latvia’s first mandatory upper-secondary science exams, LSM reported. The exams were introduced at the end of the previous academic year, while vocational school graduates took a general-level science exam.

Most of those who failed were in 11th grade or the penultimate year of vocational school. They will therefore be able to retake the exams next year.

Students could take four exams at either the optimal or general level. The highest average result was recorded in the optimal-level physics exam, at 53 percent of available points. The average result was about 46 percent in biology, chemistry and the general-level science exam.

Lauris Freimanis, a teacher at Riga Secondary School No. 64 and Riga Primary School No. 85, said his students had prepared for the exams through regular consultations and a trial exam in February.

Thirty-five students at Riga Secondary School No. 64 took the exam, achieving an average result nine percentage points higher than the national average.

Mihails Basmanovs, a senior expert in the State Education Development Agency’s State Examinations Division and a biology teacher at Riga Secondary School No. 40, said the results reflected how each student had studied. The school’s result was above the national average.

Biology was the most popular exam, with nearly 5,000 students taking it. It also had the highest number and proportion of failures: 258 students did not pass. Around 2,000 students took each of the other exams, with between 33 and 92 failing each one.