I've been reading through the forum and through the official websites in German, but somehow I can't get an answer to a simple question: what is the gymnasium admission criteria in Zurich? I know about the central exam ( http://www.zentraleaufnahmepruefung.ch/ ) and I know that the average school marks for German and Maths are also taken into account. So you average these two and each pupil gets his final Prufung score. I think the official papers say that the passing score is 4.5 or so.
But what happens next? Assume there are 200 pupils in Zurich with exam score >4.5 and they all apply to, say, MNG Rämibühl, which has capacity for, say, only 100. Will the gymi increase capacity to accommodate all 200? Or will it take top 100 with the highest scores? If yes, does anyone know what is the historical cut-off score? Can't find any info about this at all...
Just reviewed the admission standards for Kantonsschule Enge - Gymnasium, which state that an applicant who scores an average grade of 4.0 or higher on the written exam will be admitted. For those with 3.75 to 3.99 score, an interview will determine admission also requiring a minimum 4.0. Applicants with an average grade of less than 3.75 will be turned down:
"10. Erforderlicher Notendurchschnitt für die Direktaufnahme Gymnasium: Wer in der schriftlichen Prüfung eine Note von mindestens 4 erreicht, wird aufgenommen, wer eine solche von weniger als 3.75 erreicht, wird abgewiesen. Die übrigen Kandidaten müssen die mündliche Prüfung ablegen.
Wer in der mündlichen Prüfung eine Note von mindestens 4 erreicht, wird aufgenommen. Die übrigen Kandidaten werden abgewiesen."
Other Gymnasiums in Canton Zurich may have other admission requirements. You might wish to review the specific requirements for the Gymnasium your child is applying to. A list of Gymnasiums is at this link:
Thanks Mullhollander. So let's take Kantonsschule Enge as an example. Do you understand these rules that the school will have to accommodate unlimited number of new students if they all score above 4.0?
Was just browsing the internet and found a note on the official website of Zurich Department of Education that "students are free to choose any gymnasium they want if there are no capacity constraints". Without any further details what happens if there are capacity constraints.
2) Based on experience, Gymi expects that 75 to 85 applicants will score 4.0+ on the written exam.
3) After determining that 81 (or some other number) reached 4.0+ this year, Gymi then invites applicants who scored between 3.75 and 3.99 for a verbal test.
4) Gymi gives about 19 a 4.0+ on the verbal test and has its new class.
- A verbal test would likely be more subjective than a written test.
I wouldn't expect the Gymi to get into a situation where there were suddenly 200 applicants with a 4.0+ on the written exam and only 100 places.
AFAIK only the Lyceum has a capacity limit. For the others, if it happens that they have more entries than places they may just cram all in the gym hall and start the enhanced drop off procedure by doing at least two exams a day. All those which can not sustain the pressure will leave. All those not making the required marks must leave.
If they have just enough students they will start with normal drop-off procedure. Normal class rooms, just one exam a day.
Kids will also be bumped to other Gymnasiums if their chosen one is over-subscribed.
And, as far as I know, from next year onwards, if you don't get the marks there's no interview process afterwards for a second chance. This is what we were told at a parent meeting at my daughter's school.
You seemto be mixing up Langgymi and Kurzgymi entrance requirements. They are not the same. Langgymi is German and Math, exam and Vornoten. Min 4.5. Kurzgymi is German, Math and French, exam only, min. 4
In Langgymi, if one school gets oversubscribed they go on exam result and those who dont make the cut gets their second choice. I would guess it is similar in Kurzgymi since also there you need to give second choice.
Officially, no. All kids with 4 or over get accepted. However I am pretty sure there is a adjustment of the requrirements to meet 4 depending on the difficulty of the exam. That can go both up and down (too easy, too difficult). I think though that this is mainly the case for the Kurzgymi exam and peobably only for a couple of years until they have found a balance with the new rules of exam only. This is my own speculation though.
And don't forget a significant portion of students from the Long Gymnasium won't pass the probation period and will get thrown back out to Sek A in their local secondary school, even if they passed the exam.
The cut-off point is just a number... and how they perform on one day (the exam day)...
My understanding is that the long-gymnasiums in Zurich work as a 'cluster' and if one is oversubscribed they work their way down from the highest performer down and then offer second choices to the lower students who still fit the criteria.
Other gymnasiuns outside Zurich don't have a 'cluster' so it's basically in-or-not.
Rough figures maybe 50% of the kids who sit the long-gymnasium exam will pass the exam, and maybe 20% of those who do pass, don't make it through probation. And remember the original group of kids will be kids who are generally expected to have the capacity to succeed in the exam (teacher or parent assume they can pass) - a significant number of kids won't actually sit the exam in the first place..
Oh, and to calculate the entry grade, there are several components and the individual Gymi will have an explanation of how those grades are combined. Some may be weighted more than others...
My daughter is in the FMS (Fachmittelschule) and for entry you need to be finished at least 2 years of secondary school plus sit an exam in German, Maths and French. However, the maths and german count as 40% each (total 80%) and French only counts as 20%. In theory, you could fail French and still get enough marks for German and Maths to pass.
Our son goes to our local Gymnasium, and its scary how many kids fail to reach the next year, when he joined it was the first 2 years you could be kicked out, then they changed it to every year, around half his class didn't survive the first year, quite a few failed the 2nd but had the option to retake the year (a few did, most dropped out) and its been like that ever since, I think this year (his 5th year) has been the first time they all passed, but there isn't that many left now anyway.
his year was already under subscribed as not enough kids got the min mark in the exams, they didn't top up the year with the best of the rest.
My children will be taking the gymi prufung in Canton Zurich but they are currently attending primary school in another Canton. I have heard that the end of semester grades for children in this situation don't count towards the final mark. Therefore, the possibility of entering the gymi will be solely be dependent on the performance of this one morning of exams.
Does anyone know if, and if so to what extent, this will be disadvantageous? I am assuming that the end of semester grades are generally higher than the gymi prufung grades. If I am correct, then my children (and others in the same situation and also those from private schools even in Canton) will then have to attain higher than average marks in the exams.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Do you think that I am correct in my thinking here?
Of the 4 children in my child's class who did the Zurich gymi exam this year, 2 got a higher grade in the maths exam than the grade given by the teacher (ie 4.8 versus 4.5, 5.8 versus 5.5). I know a few children in other classes with a 5.5 average from the teacher who only just scraped in after the exam.
My understanding is that in Canton Zurich, teacher recommendation has zero affect on the entry. It's all based on exam performance of the entrance exams in German and Maths (for long gymnasium) and German, Maths, French for short gymnasium. They don't look at what they get from the teacher. It's irrelevant for the exam result.
The only thing is with teacher recommendation of whether a child actually sits the exam, but the parents can override this anyway. It's up to us to organise for our kids to sit the exam. You have to register, check for the dates of the information session for the school you are interested in, go along or in Stadt Zurich, register to get a code (they give the codes out at the info evenings) so you can sign up for the exam.
One of my kids did the entry exam for Gymi from a private (bilingual Montessori) school. The other did an entry exam for FMS (same process as Gymi for the test) from the Swiss secondary school. The entry cutoff for FMS is lower than for Gymi, but the test is still in German, Maths and French.
For Kt. Zürich it used to be the case that the class grade counted this has been changed and now it is only the test grade that matters for entry into Gymnasium.
If anyone has questions and would like to PM me, that is fine by me, my daughter has just finished the Matura so we have a lot of experience with the system in Zürich.
Perhaps this documentation is out of date? It's from 2008. Can anyone give a definite answer as to whether end of semester grades are counted as we have completely conflicting information here!
No this is primary to 'sekundarschule' - not Gymnasium.
For Gymi in Zurich there is an exam. For secondary school (not Gymnasium) there are several streams (Sek A, B, C, D ) placement into one of those streams is usually on recommendation of the teacher.
The document I posted covers the move from Primary to the Secondary level, whether this is to Sekundarschule or Gymnasium.
I just checked and the German version of the document is from 2013 and says exactly the same about Gymnasium as the english version.
(sorry for posting in German)
Gymnasium (Mittelschule) Schülerinnen und Schüler mit sehr guten Leistungen können nach der 6. Klasse ein Gymnasium, eine Mittelschule, besuchen. Bis 10. Februar (für K + S Gymnasium 15. Januar) müssen die Eltern ihr Kind an ein Gymnasium anmelden *. Das Kind muss eine Aufnahmeprüfung bestehen. Die Erfahrungsnoten der Primarstufe werden berücksichtigt. Als Erfahrungsnote gilt bei Schülern der 6. Klasse der Primarschule das Mittel aus den Noten in Deutsch und Mathematik.
Furthermore my child went through this process in 2016 and I have read nothing to suggest that the process has changed for 2017.