Abitur in Lower Saxony

In the 2006/07 school year, a reorganized upper secondary school level was introduced in Lower Saxony after the central high school diploma had already been introduced in the 2005/2006 school year.

General

The teaching of the qualification phase presented here can continue to be organized in a course system , but the student no longer selects certain subjects taking into account certain requirements, but decides on one of up to five focal points (profiles). However, the school is able to organize the upper level in the class system by restricting the options .

Within such a focus, the subjects to be taken are largely prescribed; this new form of the upper level is often referred to as the profile upper level . The previous differentiation into two- or three-hour basic courses and five-hour advanced courses was omitted and since then, lessons have been given in profile subjects , core subjects and supplementary subjects that were designated as four or two hours as a supplementary subject. With the reintroduction of the Abitur after 13 years, the number of hours per week of the individual courses changed from 2019: Courses at the higher level of difficulty (eA) are given five hours and courses at the basic level (gA) are given two or three hours, whereby only the subjects seminar and sport are offered two hours per week are shown.

In the years 2011 to 2019, the Abitur was accepted after 12 years . From 2021 the Abitur will be taken again after 13 years. Therefore, there was a double high school diploma in 2011 and no regular high school diploma in 2020.

The fields of activity

Task area A linguistic-literary-artistic	Task area B social science	Field of activity C mathematical-scientific-technical
German	history	mathematics
foreign languages	Politics economy	biology
art	Geography	chemistry
music	religion	physics
Performing game *	Philosophy*	Computer science
	values and standards	Nutrition with chemistry *
	Pedagogy / Psychology *
	Legal studies *
	Economics *

* only in a few schools

The seminar subject and sport are not assigned to a task field.

The grade or point system

Points	Note in words	Grade (with tendency)	Raw points	Note definition	comment
15th	very good	1+	95%	The services particularly meet the requirements.
14th		10	90%
13		1−	85%
12	Well	2+	80%	The services fully meet the requirements.
11		20	75%
10		2−	70%
9	satisfying	3+	65%	The services correspond to the requirements in general.
8th		30	60%
7th		3−	55%
6th	sufficient	4+	50%	The services show deficiencies, but on the whole still meet the requirements.
5	sufficient	4th0	45%
4th	weak sufficient ¹	4−	39%	The services show deficiencies and only meet the requirements with restrictions. ¹	deficit area
3	inadequate	5+	33%	The services do not meet the requirements, but show that the necessary basic knowledge is available and the deficiencies can be remedied in the foreseeable future.
2		50	27%
1		5−	20%
0	insufficient	6th0	00%	The services do not meet the requirements and even the basic knowledge is so incomplete that the deficiencies cannot be remedied in the foreseeable future.	not used

¹ = Contrary to the official definition of the grade “poorly sufficient”, a course with this grade is not considered passed; the services do not meet the requirements.

Documentation obligations

In the qualification phase of Lower Saxony's upper secondary school, five examination subjects must be taken, including three at an advanced level. One of five key areas is to be selected:

linguistic focus
musical-artistic focus
social science focus
Mathematical and scientific focus
sporting focus (only a few schools)

The following regulations apply to schools when setting up specializations:

The linguistic and the mathematical-scientific focus must be offered.
The social science and music-artistic focus should be offered.
The sporting focus can be offered.

As long as at least one linguistic and one scientific focus can not be established, none of the other three focus areas can be offered.

Core subjects

With the choice of a major, the student decides on two major subjects, which are taught for five hours :

main emphasis	linguistically	mathematical-scientific	musically-artistically	social science	sporty
1st major 1st examination subject	continued foreign language	natural Science	Music or art	history	Sports
2nd major 2nd examination subject	continued foreign language or German	Science or mathematics or computer science	German or math	Politics and economics or geography or religion or philosophy or economics 2nd major as 3rd examination subject	natural Science

Lessons in the main subjects take place at a higher level of difficulty, which are included in the grade with double evaluation. The third exam subject at the higher level is simply scored.

Core subjects

The following core subjects, if not already major subjects, are to be taken for three hours in all four school semesters :

German
foreign language
mathematics

Supplementary subjects

Supplementary subjects are compulsory for the student and usually last three hours . A foreign language that is newly started in the introductory phase, on the other hand, has to be taken for four hours. There is no obligation to attend a subject if the corresponding subject is already a major.

For four half-years the following is mandatory:

Science (not applicable in the sporting focus)
Second natural science or computer science (only in the mathematical and natural science focus)
Sport (two hours)

The following is mandatory for three semesters:

Seminar subject (two hours)

For two half-years the following is mandatory:

Music or Art or Performing Game
history
Politics and economics (does not apply to the social sciences profile if geography or economics is chosen as a major instead of politics and economics)
Religion or values and norms or philosophy
Second natural science subject or computer science or second foreign language, but only in the social science and sporting profile

Abitur examination

The Abitur examination has to be taken in five subjects at the end of the upper secondary school. A written examination takes place in the first to fourth examination subject and an oral examination in the fifth examination subject.

All Abitur examination subjects must have been taken continuously in the qualification phase. The first three Abitur examination subjects are occupied with 5 hours per week, the 4th and 5th Abitur examination subjects with 3 hours per week.

a) First and second examination subject

The two main subjects are taught in the qualification phase with an increased requirement level and examined in writing in the Abitur. In the social sciences focus, the following are examined: major subject history and one of the subjects German, foreign language, mathematics and natural science.

b) Third examination subject

Another subject is taught in the qualification phase at a higher level according to the requirements of the school and examined in writing in the Abitur. In the social sciences focus, the second major is examined.

c) Fourth and fifth examination subject

The fourth examination subject tested in writing (can be replaced by a special learning achievement in the same task area as the fourth examination subject) and the orally tested fifth examination subject can be freely selected by the student. It should be noted that the following conditions are met:

The Abitur examination subjects must cover all three areas of responsibility.
Two of the three subjects must be German, foreign language and mathematics among the examination subjects.

Duration of the written Abitur examination
subject	at an increased requirement level (eA)	at the basic requirement level (gA)	Hints
German	270 minutes	210 minutes
modern foreign languages	255 minutes to 300 minutes	225 minutes to 270 minutes	consists Writing part: 210 minutes (eA) or 180 minutes (gA) and two from: Speaking (15 minutes) Listening comprehension (30 minutes) Language mediation (60 minutes)
mathematics	270 minutes	225 minutes
Sports	240 minutes		Examination at the basic requirement level is only possible orally
rest	270 minutes	220 minutes

In the case of a selection of the task to be worked on, the examinees must be given sufficient time; the selection time in the German examination subject may not exceed 45 minutes and in the other examination subjects 30 minutes. The examination task must be able to be processed and solved within the specified processing times.

Billing

The billing of services and the determination of the overall qualification are based on the national system . Due to the special features of the upper level structure in Lower Saxony, the following adjustments must be observed:

In Lower Saxony, the 8 advanced courses to be billed correspond to the courses in the 1st to 4th semester in the first and second examination subject.
The 22 basic courses to be billed correspond to the following 28 courses in Lower Saxony:
- the courses of the 1st to 4th semester in the third, fourth and fifth examination subject
- In addition, the following courses, if they are not already subject exams:
  - four courses in German
  - four courses in a foreign language (with a linguistic focus as a second foreign language)
  - four courses in math
  - four courses in a second natural science or computer science (only in the natural science focus)
  - two courses in history
  - two courses in one natural science (only in the social science focus)
  - two courses in art or music or performing games (DS can only be selected as a fifth examination subject)
  - two courses in politics and economics (not if geography or economics was chosen as a major in the social sciences focus)
  - two courses in religion or values and norms or philosophy (WuN can only be selected as a fourth or fifth examination subject)
  - at least two courses in the seminar subject (including the semester with the specialist thesis as well as the one preceding or following this)
  - Up to three courses in sport (no obligation to contribute; if more than one course is introduced, at least one individual sport must be among them)
  - If necessary, two courses in a foreign language that was started in the introductory phase (if not already introduced above)
  - if applicable, the highest-graded courses that have not yet been introduced up to a total of 28 courses
- Since the maximum number of points for the half-year grades can be a maximum of 600 points and therefore a maximum of 40 courses can be taken, the result is now calculated × 40/44 (44 corresponds to the number of half-years included, this can be 48 in schools with three main subjects).

The performance of the Abitur examination is billed four times in each subject; If there is an additional oral examination in a written subject, the partial results are weighted in a ratio of 2: 1.

Table for determining the average Abitur grade:

Average grade	Points	Average grade	Points	Average grade	Points
1.0	900-823	2.0	660-643	3.0	480-463
1.1	822-805	2.1	642-625	3.1	462-445
1.2	804-787	2.2	624-607	3.2	444-427
1.3	786-769	2.3	606-589	3.3	426-409
1.4	768-751	2.4	588-571	3.4	408-391
1.5	750-733	2.5	570-553	3.5	390-373
1.6	732-715	2.6	552-535	3.6	372-355
1.7	714-697	2.7	534-517	3.7	354-337
1.8	696-679	2.8	516-499	3.8	336-319
1.9	678-661	2.9	498-481	3.9	318-301
				4.0	300

The average grade (N) is calculated in accordance with Appendix 3 of the Ordinance on the Implementation of the State Treaty on the Allocation of Study Places using the formula:

${\ displaystyle N = {\ frac {17} {3}} - {\ frac {Total points} {180}}}$ .

Individual evidence

↑ Jantje Ziegeler: No Abi 2020 - what happens to diarrhea in 2019? In: Nordwest-Zeitung , May 7, 2019, accessed on July 24, 2020
↑ Ordinance on the qualifications in upper secondary school, vocational high school, evening grammar school and college (AVO-GOBAK), September 4, 2018.
↑ Agreement on the design of the upper school level and the Abitur examination: Resolution of the Conference of Ministers of Education of July 7, 1972 as amended on February 15, 2018. Conference of Ministers of Education, accessed on May 11, 2019 . P. 25, Appendix 4: Table for calculating the average Abitur grade (N) from the number of points in the overall result (E).

[1] Jantje Ziegeler: No Abi 2020 - what happens to diarrhea in 2019? In: Nordwest-Zeitung , May 7, 2019, accessed on July 24, 2020

[avo_gobak_2018-2] Ordinance on the qualifications in upper secondary school, vocational high school, evening grammar school and college (AVO-GOBAK), September 4, 2018.

[3] Agreement on the design of the upper school level and the Abitur examination: Resolution of the Conference of Ministers of Education of July 7, 1972 as amended on February 15, 2018. Conference of Ministers of Education, accessed on May 11, 2019 . P. 25, Appendix 4: Table for calculating the average Abitur grade (N) from the number of points in the overall result (E).