New Perspectives in Science Education

Research on science-oriented school-leaving examination choice emphasizes student expectancies, values and prior achievement [1], while evidence from England links A-level subject choice and the differing admission value assigned to subjects to university destinations [2]. This study examines whether university admission recognition is reflected in the uptake of science subjects in Bulgaria’s State Matriculation Examinations (SMEs).

We analyse nationwide institution-level administrative data for five graduating cohorts (2021/22–2025/26), restricted to the regular May–June examination session. We distinguish the second compulsory SME from voluntary additional examinations in biology, chemistry and physics. Uptake in the second compulsory SME is measured as candidates per 100 students studying the corresponding subject as part of their specialised profile.

Biology entries fell from 2,751 to 1,544 (−43.9%), and uptake declined from 39.1 to 22.2 candidates per 100 students, while profiled enrolment rose by 8.4%. Chemistry uptake remained low (1.6–4.1 candidates per 100 students) despite 43.1% growth in profiled enrolment. Physics entries fell from 100 to 41 (uptake: 7.2 to 4.1 candidates per 100 students). Voluntary physics examinations, recorded separately from 2023/24 onwards, reached 85 entries. Of the candidates taking a voluntary physics examination, 94.1% attended schools also reporting voluntary mathematics examinations, although school-level data cannot identify individual subject combinations.

These patterns are consistent with subject-specific differences in university admission recognition. National regulations for admission to medicine and dental medicine require written entrance examinations in biology and chemistry and currently do not include science SME results in the admission score [3]. Because the observation window begins with the first graduating cohort under the reformed SME system, the findings are interpreted as associations rather than causal effects.

Keywords: state matriculation examinations; university admission; science examination choice; science education policy; Bulgaria

References

[1] Kampa, N., Krämer, S., & Hannover, B. “Secondary School Leaving Examinations: The Impact of Expectancies, Values, and Dimensional Comparisons on Male and Female Students’ Science-Oriented Choices”, Frontiers in Education, 5, 545608, 2020.

[2] Dilnot, C. “The relationship between A-level subject choice and league table score of university attended: the ‘facilitating’, the ‘less suitable’, and the counter-intuitive”, Oxford Review of Education, 44(1), 118–137, 2018.

[3] Council of Ministers of Bulgaria. Ordinance on the Unified State Requirements for Higher Education in Medicine and Dental Medicine, State Gazette 94/2005, as amended, Art. 2 [in Bulgarian].

Acknowledgements and Funding

This publication has been funded by the National Scientific Programme “Development of Research and Innovation in the Field of Bulgarian Pre-school and School Education.” The authors bear full responsibility for the content of this document, which under no circumstances can be considered an official position of the Institute of Education.