How to Enroll in Secondary School in Serbia?

By Konstantin Levushkin · 5 minute read · Updated on June 26, 2024

✅︎ Verified by Aleksandar Todosijevic

Aleksandar is the President of Association for Social History – Euroclio, Belgrade and a History Teacher in Belgrade primary school.

After completing 8th grade in primary school, teenagers can continue their education in secondary school. The admission procedure, including for children of foreigners, is detailed in this regulation.

Admission to secondary school is competitive. The following results influence the chances of getting into a good school:

• Success in the final exam (završni ispit);
• Overall academic performance from 6th to 8th grade of primary school;
• Competition results;
• Success in separate exams required for special departments and art schools.

Article 7 of the regulation specifies the conditions for admission to secondary school for children who completed primary school partially or entirely in another country. Article 6 describes a separate admission procedure for those who studied according to an individual education plan for children with special educational needs (IOP2).

What is the final exam?

The final exam is held at the end of 8th grade, in June. The exam consists of three subjects: Serbian language, mathematics, and one elective subject. A student can score a total of 40 points from the three exams: 14 points each for mathematics and Serbian language and literature, and 12 points for the elective exam.

Each exam is a test. The tests are developed by the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. Previous years’ tests can be viewed here. The exams are usually taken in the same school where the student studied.

How is overall academic performance calculated?

A student can score a total of 60 points for 6th-8th grades.

In Serbia, a five-point grading system is used. Overall academic performance is calculated as the arithmetic mean of semester (half-year) grades in all compulsory subjects. The behavior grade (ocena iz vladanja) also affects overall academic performance. More about the grading system in Serbian primary schools can be read in this regulation.

Overall academic performance for 6th-8th grades, rounded to two decimal places (e.g., 4.13), is multiplied by 4.

This number is then added to the points from the final exam, max 100 point overall.

If a student did not attend 6th grade in Serbia, they automatically receive 20 points for 6th grade. Students who did not complete 7th-8th grades in Serbia are admitted through a special procedure (described below).

What competitions are considered for admission?

Additional points can only be earned for prize-winning places at the international and republican levels. City, district, and school competitions are not considered. Competitions that count are listed in the Calendar on the Ministry’s website.

How to Enroll in a Special Department in Gymnasium?

To enroll in a special department for students with exceptional abilities (as mentioned in our article about gymnasiums), you need to pass additional exams, either one or two depending on the department. You can earn up to 240 points from these tests, which are added to the points from the final exam and overall academic performance. To enter bilingual schools, you must pass a foreign language exam, which can earn you 20 points.

Exams are held in May at the schools that offer these departments. You can register for the exam directly at the school. Detailed admission conditions for specific programs can be found in the regulations or on the respective school’s website. Examples of entrance tests are available on the Ministry’s website.

How to Enroll in a Vocational school?

The process is basically the same as for gymnasiums. Separate exams are only required for art departments.

How to Enroll in an Art School?

Art education can be obtained in gymnasiums at the special department for performing and audiovisual arts, in secondary art schools, and in some vocational schools.

In the first case, one additional exam is required, while in the other cases, three exams are required: drawing, painting, and sculpture. Each exam can earn a maximum of 160 points, for a total of 480 points.

How Many Points Are Needed to Get into a Good School?

When applying to a general department, a student can earn a total of 100 points without considering competition results. For special departments in gymnasiums the score could reach 340 points and for art schools 580.

Passing scores from previous years are published in special collections “Informator za upis u srednju školu,” which can be purchased in bookstores at the end of the school year. They can also be found on Serbian parent websites. For example, here you can see the passing scores for the 2022/2023 academic year and previous years.

In the provided screenshot, you can see that to enroll in one of the general departments in 2022/2023 at Zemun Gymnasium, it was necessary to score more than 89 out of 100 points (excluding competition points). For the department for students with exceptional abilities in computer science and computing, it was necessary to score more than 280 out of 340 possible points, and for the physics department, more than 204 points.

In the second screenshot, you can see that the most sought-after program in Tehnoart Secondary School was Graphic Designer with a specialization in calligraphy. The passing score is also influenced by the number of available places, which can be found in a document titled “Preliminarni plan upisa učenika u srednju školu za školsku,” prepared by the Ministry. For example, here.

How Do Foreigners Enroll in School?

The conditions are described in Article 7 of the regulations.

• If a student has completed only 7th and 8th grades in a Serbian school, they receive 20 points for the 6th grade and participate in the general competition as described above.
• If a student has completed only the 8th grade, they take the final exam but do not participate in the general competition. Such students can enroll in a secondary school through a quota (preko broj) when the main places are allocated through the competition (this happens at the beginning of July). They can apply to special departments only if they have passed the relevant exam with a minimum score (120 out of 240).
• If a student has not completed any grade in Serbia, they do not take the final exam. These students can only enroll in general type gymnasiums and vocational schools, as they do not take specialized exams.

General Admission Procedure for Secondary School

December

• 8th-grade students choose the subject for their third final exam test (this choice can be changed later).

March

• Students take practice exams.

April

• Student authorization on the website https://www.mojasrednjaskola.gov.rs/.

May

• Entrance exams for special departments and art schools are held.

June

• Final exams are held at the end of June, with results published on the portal https://www.mojasrednjaskola.gov.rs/.
• Immediately after the publication, families can submit a list of desired schools (up to 20) in order of priority.

July

• The first round of school selection is completed. Families can apply for remaining spots (electronically or directly at the school), which are also allocated through the competition.

August

• The second wave of final exams for those who could not take them in June for valid reasons.
• The third round of school selection.
• The school administration allocates the remaining spots to children who did not study in Serbia in the 8th grade.

Admission Procedure for Those Who Did Not Study in Serbia

1. Submit foreign education documents for nostrification as soon as possible to the Qualifications Agency.
2. Choose 5 schools you wish to enroll in, ranking them from most to least preferred.
3. Contact the school administration (školska uprava) of the city where you reside. They are usually ready to accept documents from such families after the beginning of July, when the main places in secondary schools have been allocated.
4. In parallel with contacting the administration, you can visit the schools themselves. Sometimes they may make a decision to accept the child, but they will likely still need the administration’s approval. There have been cases where schools took this decision upon themselves.
5. Wait for the administration’s decision on allocation. In rare cases, this happens in July, but more often the decision is made only at the end of August, when the third round of general school admissions is completed.