Average grade 3.66 for State Matura; Minister Janevska says she is satisfied

The overall average grade for this year’s State Matura exams taken in June is 3.66, Minister of Education Vesna Janevska announced at a press briefing.

The figure is the combined average across three separate exam tracks: the state general matura, the state vocational matura and the state artistic matura. Breaking the totals down, the average for the general State Matura was 3.62, for the vocational matura 3.91, and for the artistic matura 3.59.

Janevska said she is satisfied with the result, noting that the average is almost the same as last year’s 3.69 and markedly higher than the 2024 average of 3.26.

"I consider these objective results due to the preparedness of all involved in organizing the matura. This year for the first time exams were taken according to a new Concept which envisaged three types of matura – state, vocational and artistic, so all students were tested on the material they actually studied during the four years of secondary education, which was not the case in the past when everyone was tested on the same material", said Janevska.

Cheating cases, appeals and retakes

The minister also reported a drop in cheating incidents: exam papers of 226 students were annulled during the June session. Some were caught copying in the exam room, while others were discovered to have cheated after their papers were reviewed. Those students will sit the exams again in August.

Daniela Jovchevska-Mihajlovska, director of the State Examination Centre, added that 805 formal appeals against results were submitted and 133 students requested to inspect their exam papers.

A total of 14,587 candidates were registered for the external exams in the June session: 12,184 registered for the general State Matura, 2,276 for the state vocational matura and 127 for the state artistic matura. A total of 348 registered candidates (2.39 percent) did not show up for the exams.

Photo: press material from the event