Cermat simplifies Czech unified entrance exams for secondary schools

Cermat, the centre responsible for organising admissions to secondary schools in Czechia, has simplified the requirements for the unified entrance exam in maths and the Czech language. The changes affect all three school years from which children can sit the exam.

The reason is that two groups of pupils are currently in the education system. Some follow the framework educational programme in its previous version, others the updated one. To keep the exam manageable for everyone, regardless of how their school teaches, Cermat adjusted the requirements. The updated programme will become mandatory for all primary schools from September 2028, but some schools already teach it voluntarily.

What was cut from maths

According to Cermat, some requirements are being simplified or clarified, others are moving to different school years, and in some places the set of skills is narrowed specifically for the exam. This does not mean schools may not teach such material.

For applicants to four-year programmes and follow-up courses leading to the school-leaving exam, the changes are as follows:

The lowest common multiple and greatest common divisor are now required only of ninth-graders, not seventh-graders, and will be tested for two numbers only, not three. The rules for taking the root of a fraction and of a product have been removed from the requirements, as has factoring binomials using formulas. In systems of equations, the problem with two unknowns remains, but a specific solution method is no longer prescribed: the substitution and addition methods are not required.

In geometry, the construction of a tangent to a circle at a given point, the construction of a triangle's circumscribed circle, the use of Thales' circle, estimating and calculating the volume and surface area of a cylinder, and applied problems on the sphere have all been dropped entirely.

What changed for grammar schools

Applicants to six-year grammar schools (gymnasiums) will no longer face, for example, tasks on constructing angles without a protractor or drawing a regular hexagon and octagon. They no longer need to know the concept of “per mille”, and when finding a common denominator of fractions, using the lowest common multiple is optional.

Pupils who move to eight-year grammar schools after fifth grade will no longer have to distinguish terminologically between numbers up to hundreds of thousands and millions. It is enough to know the terms “one-digit” to “five-digit” number and numbers up to a million. Long division by a two-digit divisor is dropped, and pie charts disappear from the tasks as well.

The Czech language and what comes next

The Czech language and literature test has also been adjusted, but with fewer changes. Cermat stresses that the written tests place the main emphasis on reading literacy and related skills. Basic terms such as parts of speech, synonyms, subject and predicate must still be understood, but terms marked as “advanced”, for example the non-agreeing attribute, need not be known. The full list of requirements is published on the Cermat website.

The tests will change again once all schools begin teaching under the new programme. It will be introduced gradually from September 2028 in first and sixth grades, so all children will be taught under a single programme for the first time in 2032.

Around Prague guide on the topic: Как выучить чешский язык: курсы, приложения и репетиторы в 2026

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz