Latvian 9th-grade students average 45% in natural sciences assessment

Data from the State Education Development Agency (VIAA) reveals that 9th-grade students in Latvia achieved an average score of 44.8% in last year's natural sciences diagnostic work. This result was the lowest among the major assessment tasks required for primary school graduates.

Performance varied significantly by subject and skill type. Students scored 56.8% in the knowledge and understanding section, but only 35.7% in the skills section. Within the skills category, the lowest performance was in analytical thinking at 29.2%, while the highest was in the “know and use” category at 54.7%.

Subject-specific averages were: biology at 49.5%, physics at 43.6%, and chemistry at 42.3%. For comparison, average scores in other major assessments were 56.2% for Latvian language, 54.8% for mathematics, and 70% for English language monitoring.

This year, 9th-grade students will take the centralized natural sciences exam. Unlike monitoring tasks, these exams involve external observers to ensure objectivity, and results may serve as selection criteria for admission to 10th grade. Unlike mathematics and Latvian language exams, students will not be required to meet a minimum threshold for the natural sciences exam to be considered passed.