Unified State Exam


The Unified State Exam is an exam in the Russian Federation. It is in fact a series of exams every student must pass after graduation from school to enter a university or a professional college. Since 2009, the USE is the only form of graduation examinations in schools and the main form of preliminary examinations in universities. A student can take a USE in the Russian language, mathematics, foreign languages, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, literature, history, basics of social sciences and computing science. The USE in the Russian language and mathematics are obligatory; that means that every student needs to get the necessary results in these subjects to enter any Russian university or get a high school diploma.

History

The USE was introduced in Russia in 2001 first as an educational experiment, initially held in a few regions of Russia: Chuvashia, Mari El, Yakutia, as well as in Samara and Rostov Oblasts. The first experimental examination was only held by the eight general classes. In 2002 this experiment was continued in 16 regions of Russia, expanded to 47 regions in 2003, then in 2006 about 950 thousand school graduates took the test all over Russia. In 2008 that number rose to more than one million graduates. The list of schools and classes to take part in the USE in 2001–2008 was determined by local public education authorities in the regions of Russia.
At present the USE is administered by the Ministry of Education and Science together with the regional and local public education authorities.

Structure

The task for each subject USE test consists of two parts : I and II.
The I part contains tasks in which student must give a short written answer, usually several letters or numbers.
The II part contains one or several tasks in which student must use their creativity to complete them. For example, one can be given a hard mathematical exercise to solve, a composition to write or a question to answer argumentatively. Unlike the previous part, which is checked by a computer, this part is checked by three experts of the regional examination committee.

Paper forms

There are four stationery forms used in the course of each subject USE test: the registration form, the answer sheet No. 1, the primary answer sheet No. 2, and the additional answer sheet No. 2.
Rules for registration and filling the headers and answers in the forms of the USE are quite strict and are described in a special instruction. Failure to adhere to the guidelines while filling the forms may result in uncredited answers and void examinations.