From this Friday, more than 150,000 school pupils in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation will sit the "external certification tests", which attest to proficiency in the skills expected at each level of schooling.
With the implementation of the new school calendar this year, these tests - better known as CEB for primary 6, CE1D for secondary 2 and CESS for secondary 6 - will no longer be held in mid-June as in the past, but from Friday 23 June until 30 June.
Sometimes dreaded by parents as much as their children, the aim of these external tests is to assess all pupils at the same level simultaneously and in a standardised way, on the basis of the same exam, with the same questions and the same marking and pass criteria.
Who writes each test?
As usual, the CEB (the Basic Studies Certificate) will cover French, mathematics and early learning (science, history, geography). The test is compulsory for all pupils in the sixth year of primary education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, as well as all pupils in the first differentiated year of secondary education, and certain pupils in special education, as decided by their school.
This year, the CEB will be held in all schools from Monday 26 to Friday 30 June and the results will be announced on 6 July.
The CE1D (the Certificate of Secondary Education), which has been in force since 2013, concerns all pupils in the 2nd common and complementary years of secondary education.
The test will be held from 23 to 29 June. It covers modern languages – the written part on 23 June and the oral part between 23 and 29 June, mathematics (26 June), French (27 June) and science (28 June). The other subjects taught in secondary 2 are subject to non-standardised internal tests.
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Finally, the CESS (the Upper Secondary Education Certificate), which has been compulsory since 2015, will be taken by all students in the 6th year of secondary and 7th year of vocational education. The test, which will be held over two days, covers just two subjects: history (23 June) and French (26 June). Here too, the other subjects will be the subject of internal examinations set by the schools.
The results of the CE1D and CESS will not be published until September. The CEB, CE1D and CESS questionnaires used this year will be published on the enseignement.be website from Monday 3 July.
