New conditions for completing secondary education and accessing higher education
The conditions for completing secondary education will be different from the 2023/2024 school year, with national exams worth only 25% of the final grade for students entering 10th grade. The new rules for access to higher education, in which entrance exams are worth at least 45% of the final grade, will only come into force for applications in 2025.
For students attending 12th grade this year, there is no change in the rules for calculating the final average for secondary school, nor in the conditions for entering higher education.
Completion of secondary education
In the new three-test model, the Portuguese test is mandatory and the other two can be chosen by the students. With the new rules, the weight of the national exams in the final grade of the subject is reduced from 30% to 25%.
Students who are in the 10th grade in the 2022/2023 school year will already be covered by the three-exam model from the 2023/2024 school year. The Portuguese exam will be compulsory for all secondary education courses, but the other two exams can be in subjects from the specific training component of the students' choice, within a range of possibilities.
For students entering the 10th grade in the 2023/2024 school year, the calculation of the final secondary school average will be different. The subjects they take from 10th to 12th grade will have a different weighting in the grade: a three-year subject is worth three times, a two-year subject is worth two times and an annual subject is worth one time.
Access to higher education
The calculation formula for entering universities and polytechnics in Portugal will also change as of 2025. The final grade that counts for application to higher education will be calculated as follows:
- High school average - worth at least 40%
- entrance exam grades - worth a minimum of 45%.
- prerequisites - if any, worth a maximum of 15%.
The weight of the secondary school average cannot be greater than the weight of the entrance examinations in the final grade.
As for the number of entrance examinations required, the decision is up to each institution, with a minimum of two examinations.
