Education Minister Yoav Kisch presented the new, updated framework for the upcoming matriculation exams on Thursday, including new national accommodations and significant leniencies for northern Israel.
"Since the beginning of the war, the Education Ministry has been working to create stability amid a reality of uncertainty,” Kisch said. “Before Passover, we published a broad relief framework for all students in Israel, on the assumption that learning would return to its normal course.”
“In practice, an ongoing reality of uncertainty and pressure has developed, one that is not only pedagogical but also psychological, and it is affecting all students."
Kisch emphasized that the goal of the accommodations is not only to allow students to cover the necessary material, but is meant to reduce pressure, create certainty, and allow everyone to sit exams in a calmer and fairer way.
"As the security situation continues, we will continue to adapt our responses sensitively and in line with what emerges from the field,” he said.
National accommodations
The national accommodations, in addition to those granted before Passover, include a change in the weighting of final grades, so that in every case the higher grade will be chosen with the maximum weight, and a national safety net of a curved grading system should a significant gap between the national average and yearly average appear.
As well, students will be allowed to exchange a single external humanities exam for an internal option. Core subjects, including English, Hebrew language, math, Tanach for Jewish students, and Arabic for non-Jewish students, will remain as external exams.
For computer science, the minimum required passing grade will be lowered to 45 instead of 55. Additional accommodations for chemistry and Talmud studies will also be provided, the details of which can be found on the Examinations Division’s website.
Leniencies for northern Israel
Two additional tiers of accommodations have been granted for students living in northern Israel, with border communities receiving the maximum concessions.
Further, the TANUFA exams for sixth-graders, which had been planned for later in the year, have also been canceled.
Haifa area and southern Golan
In addition to the national accommodations, students in the Haifa area and southern Golan may take two internal humanities exams in place of external ones, per the same list of subjects above.
Tanach in the Jewish sector and Hebrew in the Arab and Druze sectors are not included in this list.
Additionally, non-Jewish students will receive a five percent bonus to their grades in the compulsory Tanach and Hebrew language units.
Students will also receive a five percent bonus on all external matriculation exams in advanced subjects and the laboratory components for physics, chemistry, and biology will be conducted internally.
Communities on Israel’s northern frontline
In addition to the national accommodations, students living on the Israel-Lebanon border will be allowed to answer fewer questions on the mathematics matriculation exam, and will be given an adapted mother-tongue exam (should it be requested), simplified to reflect the challenges of the security situation.
Students will also be able to exchange two external humanities exams for two internal ones, per the same list presented above.
Tanach in the Jewish sector and Hebrew in the Arab and Druze sectors are not included in this list.
Additionally, non-Jewish students will receive a 10% bonus on the grade in the compulsory Tanach and Hebrew language units.
Students will also receive a 10% bonus on all external matriculation exams in the advanced subjects, and the laboratory components in the subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology will be conducted internally.