Admission to high school in 2024 brought changes in the hierarchy of admission averages, with a decrease in the average for the first majors in Bucharest. According to recent data, the average of the last admitted to the bilingual English Mathematics-Informatics class at the “Saint Sava” National College has decreased by 5 hundredths, compared to 2023.
In 2024 there were less than 10 marks in the National Assessment – Photo Archive
The Ministry of Education published the results of the computerized distribution on Wednesday, highlighting the latest admission averages. On the first place in the list of high schools is the National College “Sfântul Sava” in the Mathematics-Informatics profile, with an admission average of 9.90. In second place is the “Gheorghe Lazăr” National College, also in the Mathematics-Informatics profile, with the last admission average of 9.85.
The distribution of averages in the 2024 National Assessment has undergone changes, after the number of averages between 9 and 10 decreased. As a result, a student with an average of 9.60 had fewer competitors in front of him, which led to changes in the hierarchy .
“The high grades were less this year, and then, automatically, that had an effect on the hierarchy of high schools, in the sense that the last entry grade was reduced. The correction on the National Assessment was random, computerized, so no problems. Too much, I don’t think the charts have changed. All the well-known high schools in Bucharest remain in the top, there were no radical changes”, explained education expert Ștefan Vlaston.
Specifically, a student with an average of 9.80 had a higher chance of being admitted to a top high school, the corresponding position being 514, compared to 762 in 2023.
Less than 10 averages
“65 secondary school graduates completed the exam with an average of 10 (ten), compared to 429 (last year) and 221 (in 2022)“, says the Ministry of Education.
The reason? “The marks of 10 were less this year precisely because there were 2-3 very difficult subjects and then the differentiation was made. But most of the marks were between 8 and 8.50-9. If you look at the Gaussian curve, most of the marks in some correct subjects should be around 7.50, not around 8.50-9. This is a mistake that pays off later, many times over“, says the Mathematics teacher.
Record number of students with grades below 5 admitted to high school
In addition, in 2024 we have the largest number of children who entered high school with averages below 5 in the last 4 years. More precisely, 16,723 were assigned to high school in the first stage, according to the ministry’s information. Of these, almost 10,000 are from rural areas, and over 6,700 from urban areas.
“In the countryside, it’s a disaster. This has an unfortunate consequence. These children, who barely know the multiplication table or not at all, will be forced to learn logarithms, exponentials, integrals, derivatives in high school. How should they understand these concepts? Because math is learned like building a block, the previous floor is built, if the 2nd floor is missing, the whole block collapses, you don’t understand anything anymore. You can’t go further with gaps like the multiplication table or geometry formulas“, adds the expert.
Ștefan Vlaston emphasizes that the results obtained in the national exams are related to the number of those who registered, while the students who did not register are not taken into account. Thus, the average of students who pass is lower than in reality, the real pass rate would be 50%.
The education expert points out that there are several reasons that explain the disaster in the educational system, among them: the selection of teachers – considered ineffective, the lack of autonomy of high schools, difficult curricula.
“The high school is responsible for the results, but the decisions are taken by the inspectorate. Then why should the high school answer? The high school principal and board of directors have no opinion. He doesn’t choose his teachers, he doesn’t decide the salaries of teachers, because they are national norms, he doesn’t decide the curricula, he doesn’t decide if he does classes at the intermediate level, at the minimum level and at another level. He doesn’t decide anything. Instead, he curses them all when they do poorly in the exam. We have to look at this aspect as well.”, emphasizes Ștefan Vlaston.
Many students no longer choose vocational schools either, this year 20,615 participants enrolled in vocational education, compared to 25,416 in 2023. This is because vocational schools no longer have anywhere to take students to practice, students learn too much theory, and qualified master instructors are lacking.
Top high schools in Bucharest in 2024
The most sought-after high schools in Bucharest remained Saint Sava National College, Gheorghe Lazăr National College and Spiru Haret National College.
Admission averages decreased slightly compared to last year, also because the number of grades between 9 and 10 decreased. We remind you that the high school admission average was calculated exclusively based on the results obtained by students in the National Assessment.
This is what the top 15 most sought-after specializations at Bucharest high schools look like according to the last admission average in 2024, according to EduPedu:
- “Saint Sava” National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.9
- “Gheorghe Lazăr” National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.85
- “Gheorghe Lazăr” National College, Natural Sciences, 9.8
- “Spiru Haret” National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.8
- “Saint Sava” National College, Natural Sciences, 9.72
- “Spiru Haret” National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.72
- “Tudor Vianu” National College of Informatics, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.7
- “Saint Sava” National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.67
- “Spiru Haret” National College, Natural Sciences, 9.67
- “Gheorghe Lazăr” National College, Social Sciences, 9.65
- “Tudor Vianu” National College of Informatics, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.62
- “ILCaragiale” National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.6
- “Gheorghe Lazăr” National College, Philology, 9.57
- “George Coșbuc” Bilingual National College, Mathematics-Informatics, 9.52
- “George Coșbuc” Bilingual National College, Natural Sciences, 9.52.
National top of high schools
High schools from the Capital dominate the national top, according to data published by the Ministry of Education. In the top 10 of the most competitive specializations in the country, there is only one high school outside of Bucharest: the “Buzești Brothers” National College from Craiova, with the latest admission average of 9.67 for the Natural Sciences profile. The first 50 specializations at national level are available HERE.
Top high schools at national level, where entered with the highest averages in 2024:
- “Saint Sava” National College, Bucharest – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.90
- “Gheorghe Lazăr” National College, Bucharest – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.85
- “Spiru Haret” National College, Bucharest – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.80
- “Tudor Vianu” National College of Informatics, Bucharest – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.70
- “Buzești Brothers” National College, Craiova – Natural Sciences, 9.67
- “Constantin Diaconovici Loga” National College, Timișoara – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.67
- “Emanuil Gojdu” National College, Oradea – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.65
- National College “Dr. Ioan Meșotă”, Brașov – Natural Sciences, 9.65
- “Emil Racoviță” National College, Cluj-Napoca – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.62
- “ILCaragiale” National College, Bucharest – Mathematics-Informatics, 9.60am.
After the publication of the results of the computerized assignment, the students will have to submit the enrollment file to the high school to which they were assigned according to the following calendar:
- July 25 – 30, 2024: Submission of enrollment files to the high schools where the students have been assigned.
- July 30, 2024: Transmission by high schools of the remaining free places
- July 31 – August 2, 2024: Resolution of special situations by the county/municipality admission commission.
