All students in Secondary 4 and up receive a school report four times a year (Autumn, January, Spring and June) with a grade and a comment. The Autumn and Spring reports consist of one mark per subject and a comment. In the January and June reports there are two marks. The second mark is the result of tests taken in December and June.
Students at the European School Copenhagen take short tests (known as B tests) twice a year, similar to the Danish “terminsprøver” or “årsprøver” in the Danish gymnasium. Students are tested in most of their subjects. The duration of each test is 2-3 periods and the tests take place either in class or in the Sports Hall.
The marking system
There are three types of marks in the European School system:
- The A mark is an evaluation of the work done in class, homework assignments, essays etc. during the semester. The A mark is given in all four school reports, and the school reports in Autumn and Spring only contain A marks. (Equivalent to Danish Standpunktskarakter)
- The B mark is an evaluation of the B tests taken once per semester (December and June). (Equivalent to Danish Prøvekarakter)
- The C mark is a mark given for the whole year and is only given in the June school report along with an A mark for the second semester and a B mark for the test results in June. The C mark is therefore an evaluation of all the work you have done throughout the year. (Equivalent to the Danish Årskarakter)
The European Baccalaureate has its own marking scale. A student’s performance is assessed against seven performance indicators: Excellent (but not flawless), Very good, Good, Satisfactory, Sufficient, Weak and Very week.
Each performance indicator covers 2-3 numerical marks. For instance, the performance indicator ‘Excellent’ can cover the numerical marks 9.0, 9.5 and 10. The mark 9.0 is obtained if it’s closer to a ‘Very Good’ performance and 10 is given if the performance is almost flawless or has insignificant mistakes.
You can find a description of the European Schools’ marks and more information about the assessment criteria here.
All the European School syllabuses are available on the website of the European Schools and contain subject specific attainment descriptions.