Russian Regions Pilot Simplified Graduation Exams

The year 2025 marked the implementation of a new educational policy designed to alter the landscape of secondary school certification in specific Russian regions. The initiative targeted graduates completing the ninth grade, a critical juncture in the Russian education system where students typically face the State Final Examination (OGE).

Under the terms of this pilot program, students in the participating regions were granted the right to take significantly fewer exams than their peers elsewhere. The policy was structured to simplify the path to graduation for a specific demographic, creating a controlled test group for the Ministry of Education to evaluate the efficacy of reduced testing loads.

The experiment was geographically limited to three specific administrative territories. The participating regions included the federal cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, along with the Lipetsk region. Students in these areas operated under a distinct set of graduation criteria compared to the rest of the Russian Federation.

To successfully obtain their certificates, students in these regions were only required to demonstrate proficiency in two core subjects. The mandatory exams were:

• Russian Language
• Mathematics

Passing these two examinations was the sole prerequisite for graduation in these regions for the 2025 academic year.

The disparity between the pilot regions and the rest of the country was substantial. In the majority of Russian regions, ninth-grade graduates are required to pass a broader set of exams to receive their attestation. While the specific number of mandatory exams can vary slightly by region, it typically includes four or more subjects.

By limiting the requirement to just two subjects, the pilot regions effectively reduced the exam load by two times (or 50%) compared to the standard requirement. This created a unique educational environment for the participating students, distinguishing their 2025 academic experience from that of their peers across the nation.

For the students in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Lipetsk, the policy meant a significant reduction in preparation time and testing stress. By removing the requirement to take exams in other subjects—such as history, physics, or foreign languages—the program allowed students to concentrate their efforts on mastering the Russian language and mathematics.

This streamlined approach likely impacted study habits and curriculum focus in the final year of middle school. The success and reception of this 2025 experiment could potentially influence future decisions regarding the structure of the OGE and the standardization of educational requirements across the federation.