The 2025 Small Matura exam results have sparked a storm of controversy and questions – how is it possible that the Serbian language, a core subject, has an average score of only 11.61 points, while chemistry shines with an average of 15.87? Is this a sign that our students don’t know Serbian, or is the chemistry test just easier than expected?
Preliminary results of the final exam, published on the “My High School” portal, show that as many as 46.5% of eighth graders chose geography as their elective subject, while only 6.3% chose chemistry. Yet, chemistry has the highest average score, casting a shadow over the entire grading system.
Mathematics and Serbian language, the core subjects, have average scores around 11.6 points, which is worryingly low for a final exam. Students had the option to choose one of five elective subjects: history, geography, physics, chemistry, or biology, and the results show that physics and chemistry tests were the most successful, with averages of 15.77 and 15.87 points respectively.
About 63,000 eighth-grade students took the final exam, which is 99.7% of all registered, while 66.3% of registered adult learners in functional basic education also took the tests.
Complaints about preliminary results could be submitted until June 27, and the final results were published on June 30.
This situation raises questions about the quality of teaching, the difficulty of tests, and students’ readiness for high school education. Is it time for a serious reform of the Small Matura, or just another round of complaints and analyses?
If you have an opinion on these results, or maybe you went through the Small Matura yourself, drop a comment below – let’s see who’s for reform and who’s for the status quo!
