(Adnkronos) – The 2024 high school diploma starts today, Wednesday 19 June, for over 526 thousand students. The first written test “ascertains both the mastery of the Italian language (or of the different language in which teaching takes place) and the expressive, logical-linguistic and critical skills of the students” we read on the website of the Ministry of Education. It starts at 8.30 am with identical methods in all institutes and lasts a maximum of six hours. Candidates can choose between different types and themes: the ministry makes seven tracks available for all study areas which refer to the artistic, literary, historical, philosophical, scientific, technological, economic and social fields. Students can choose one, the one they think is best suited to their preparation and interests.
Students will be able to choose one of three typologies: typology A, text analysis track: the Miur proposes two possible analyzes of the text, which can be a piece of prose or a poem by an Italian author who lived in the period covered by the Unit of Italy to date; type B, argumentative text, new entry from last year. This typology in turn presents three tracks that can be of scope: artistic, literary, philosophical, historical, economic, social, technological, scientific. The Ministry of Education has established that one of the lines of argumentative text will necessarily be of a historical nature; type C: outline of the current topic or ‘general topic’. This year the MIUR will provide two tracks of topics close to the experiences of the graduates. In any case, a track from those made available will have to be chosen and the students will be able to benefit from the help of an Italian dictionary.
While the first test is the same for all graduates, regardless of the field of study, the second written test is different for each field of study. For the classical high school the subject of the second test is Greek, for the scientific high school, mathematics. Mathematics also for the Applied Sciences option and the sports section. For the human sciences high school, human sciences. For linguistic high school, foreign language. For the Music High School, Theory, analysis and composition. For the Dance High School, dance techniques and for the Artistic High School, design disciplines characteristic of the individual courses. Then there are the technical and professional institutes where students will face a specific written test.
Once the written tests have been completed, the students will have to try their hand at the oral test which should begin on the Monday following the second written test. The commissions will listen to 5 candidates per day. For some students, however, the start of the oral exam will be postponed due to the run-off elections, as the municipalities in the second round return to the polls on Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th, until 3pm. Compatibly with the counting and subsequent cleaning of the rooms, the The start of the oral exams, in the schools where the polling station is located, could therefore be postponed to Tuesday or Wednesday of the same week.
The interview takes place starting from the candidate’s analysis of the material chosen by the commission, which can be a text, a document, an experience, a project, a problem. During the interview the candidate must demonstrate that he has acquired the contents and methods of the individual disciplines and that he has developed civic education skills; he will then analyse, with a short report or a multimedia work, the experiences gained in the context of the courses for transversal skills and orientation.
The student must then present, through a short report or multimedia work, the experiences carried out as part of the courses for transversal skills (the former school-work alternation), and then there will be no shortage of civic education questions. During the interview we will also be able to talk about the experiences included in the student’s CV. The interview could last around 50/60 minutes as a whole, but if the commission is particularly tired it could last less.
The first piece of writing is assigned a maximum of 20 points. In the final ballot, the class council assigns the score for the credit gained in the second two-year period and in the last year up to a maximum of forty points: twelve points for the third year, thirteen for the fourth year and fifteen for the fifth year. The behavioral evaluation contributes to the determination of the school credit. The final grade of the State Exam is expressed in hundredths divided as follows: maximum 40 points for school credit; maximum 20 points for the first paper; maximum 20 points for the second paper; maximum 20 points for the interview. The commission – made up of a president external to the school institution, three internal and three external commissioners – can assign up to 5 “bonus” points to those who are entitled to them. The sum of all these points results in the final grade of the exam. The maximum score is 100 (with honors possible). The minimum score to pass the exam is 60/100.
Years pass but, for students preparing to take their final exams, the risk of falling into one of the traditional fake news on exam rules remains very high. Enough to raise the level of attention on possible “hoaxes” linked to the basic rules that govern the State Exam. Which is what the Postal Police promptly does with ‘Safe Maturity’, the awareness campaign carried out together with the specialized portal Skuola.net, which for the seventeenth consecutive year has the objective of “dismantling” the main false news on the subject .
New technologies in particular, with the constant development of digital “helps”, can lead to temptation. Becoming a possible amplifier of behavioral errors. Which, in the worst cases, can even lead to exclusion from the exam. The risk is real. This is clearly shown by the answers given by the approximately 1,000 graduates reached by the monitoring carried out by Skuola.net for the State Police approximately one week before the start of the 2024 Maturity.
Almost 1 in 4 students, for example, are convinced that smartphones can be kept with them at the workstation during written tests. When, however, they must be delivered to the commission desk, as 77% of the sample interviewed correctly demonstrated. And if 17% are aware that the phones must remain strictly turned off, 6% think that they can even be used at the risk of being recalled or penalized during the correction phase and not, as could happen, of seeing the entire system invalidated. examination.
Something similar happens with another “special watchdog”: the smartwatch. In this case, almost 1 in 6 (17%) think that the tech watch can be worn and used easily on the wrist during written tests, as long as it is not connected to the Internet. While 4% are convinced that it can also be used without any limitations to access the Internet. If the first is already an erroneous belief, let alone the second, which is in fact an absolutely prohibited practice. Given that the use of a smartwatch – of any type – is inhibited as much as that of a mobile phone, yet overall 1 in 5 is convinced of the opposite.
As for the inevitable total theme, there are the inevitable D’Annunzio and Pirandello. The ‘safe used’ Ungaretti and Montale. But also current events, such as the endless conflict between Israel and Palestine and artificial intelligence. Which are accompanied by central anniversaries in the history of our country, such as the Matteotti crime, or anniversaries driven by the media: this is the case of Oppenheimer, protagonist of the recent Oscar-winning film according to skuola.net.
The ‘Safe Maturity’ function, in addition to informing on possible infringement cases, also reminds us of some fundamental aspects of the exam regulations, failure to comply with which could lead to exclusion: from the need to present oneself with an identity document to that of not introducing other sheets than those provided by the commission. Without forgetting the actual fake news. Around a quarter of high school graduates (26%) are in fact convinced that the Police can monitor smartphones ”remotely” to understand who may be copying; which is not true. And even almost half (46%) believe that, during exams, commission members can search candidates for prohibited objects. Even in this case, this is incorrect information which must be debunked, however caution is urged, given that the exam commissioners, if they notice illegal manoeuvres, still have the right to exclude candidates caught in ‘the act of copying’ ‘.
And then there is the issue of exam tracks, especially those of the Italian writing. There are still too many students who think they will find the ideas to develop on the day of the test in advance, especially online. “Only” 76% of graduates are aware that only rumours, predictions or, at most, examples can be found online. 24%, however, believe that at least the topics are disseminated first; 4% think that with the right moves you can get your hands on the actual tracks with a few hours’ head start. And over 1 in 3 imagine that the ministry can change tracks even at the last minute. So it is not surprising that around 1 in 7 are tempted, on the eve of their final exams, to monitor social platforms and specialized sites until late at night, hoping for the winning cue.
In any case, the total track goes crazy every year. There are the inevitable D’Annunzio and Pirandello. The ‘safe used’ Ungaretti and Montale. But also current events, such as the endless conflict between Israel and Palestine and artificial intelligence. Which are accompanied by central anniversaries in the history of our country, such as the Matteotti crime, or anniversaries driven by the media: this is the case of Oppenheimer, protagonist of the recent Oscar-winning film.
