Matura - Matura in Austria

Matura in Austria

The official term for Matura in Austria is Reifeprüfung. The document received after the successful completion of the written and oral exams is called Maturazeugnis.

In the Gymnasium (AHS), which, as opposed to vocational schools, focuses on general education, the Matura consists of 3–4 written exams (referred to as Klausurarbeiten, four to five hours each) to be taken on consecutive mornings (usually in May) and three to four oral exams to be taken on the same half-day about a month later (usually in June). All examinations are held at the school which the candidate last attended. Candidates have the option to write a scholarly paper (called Fachbereichsarbeit) to be submitted at the beginning of the February preceding the final exams, which, if accepted, reduces the number of written exams by one. This paper also needs to be defended in the corresponding oral exam.

The grading system is the one universally used in Austrian schools: 1 (sehr gut) is excellent; 2 (gut) is good; 3 (befriedigend) is satisfactory; 4 (genügend) is passed and 5 (nicht genügend) means that the candidate has failed. In addition, a candidate's Maturazeugnis contains a formalized overall assessment: "mit ausgezeichnetem Erfolg bestanden" (pass with distinction: an average of 1.5 or better, no grade above 3), "mit gutem Erfolg bestanden" (pass with merit: an average of 2.0 or better, no grade above 3), "bestanden" (pass: no grade above 4); and "nicht bestanden" (fail: at least one grade 5). Candidates who have failed may re-take their exams in September/October or February/March of the following school year.

Compulsory subjects for the written finals are always German and Mathematics, as well as a foreign language (usually English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin or sometimes Ancient Greek). Schools with a focus on science may require their students to take written finals in Biology or Physics .

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the Austrian Matura is that it is a decentralized affair. There is only one external examiner: Candidates are set tasks both for their written and oral finals by their own (former) teachers. Formally, however, there is an examination board consisting of a candidate's teachers/examiners, the headmaster/headmistress and one external Vorsitzende(r) (head), usually a high-ranking school official or the head of another school. Oral exams are held publicly, but attendance by anyone other than a candidate's former schoolmates is not encouraged, and indeed rare.

It is possible for Austrians of all age groups to take the Matura. Adults from their twenties on are usually tutored at private institutions of adult education before taking their final tests, held separately before a regional examination board.