European Baccalaureate Mathematics (3-period course)

It is the certificate awarded to pupils who complete the final two years, s6 and s7, of a European School or an accredited school, and who pass the end-of-s7 examinations. The diploma is issued by the Secretary-General on behalf of the Board of Governors and is recognised as a higher-education entry qualification across the European Union.

Mathematics is compulsory in the core curriculum at either 3 or 5 periods per week. The 3-period option is the smaller allocation and suits pupils whose main strengths lie elsewhere but who still need mathematics within a broad multilingual package. Check your school's option rules, because an advanced mathematics course is tied to taking the 5-period option.

Candidates sit five written and three oral examinations at the end of s7. L1, L2 and Mathematics are compulsory written papers; the oral papers cover L1, L2 or a subject taught through L2, namely History or Geography. Each paper covers the whole s7 syllabus for that subject and also assesses competences acquired earlier, especially in s6.

Half comes from a preliminary mark reflecting s7 formative assessment and the Pre-Baccalaureate examinations. The other half comes from the double-corrected written and oral examinations: the five written papers account for 35% of the final mark and the three oral papers for 15%. The overall pass mark is 5 out of 10, that is 50 out of 100.

The final mark is normally the average of the internal teacher's mark and the external examiner's mark. If they differ by more than two points, a third external corrector analyses both corrections and sets a final mark falling between the highest and the lowest of the two earlier marks. You cannot appeal your way to a higher mark, so clarity of method matters.

The source material for this page does not describe a retake procedure, so no reliable answer can be given here. Treat the session as a single opportunity and confirm any resit or appeal route directly with your school's Baccalaureate coordinator before the examination period rather than afterwards.

Work from the official s7 syllabus for your course and list every topic it names, then map each one to the s6 competences it builds on. Practise complete written solutions with justification, because marks are criteria-referenced against syllabus objectives. Time yourself, and get used to showing reasoning clearly enough for an examiner who has never taught you.

The usual causes are incomplete justification, skipped intermediate steps, misreading which quantity is requested, and relying on calculator output without interpretation. Because external examiners mark against published criteria rather than your teacher's style, a correct final answer with thin reasoning can score poorly. Write as though the reader must be convinced.

Yes. The diploma is officially recognised as an entry qualification for higher education in all European Union countries and in a number of others, and holders have the same right as nationals with equivalent qualifications to seek admission to universities and tertiary institutions in the Union. Individual institutions may still apply their own admission requirements.

The cycle is deliberately multilingual: you must demonstrate written and oral proficiency in at least two languages, and History and Geography are taught through a language other than your dominant one, in French, English or German. Mathematics itself is a compulsory written paper in your section's arrangements, so confirm the language of your paper with your school.