It’s the end of an era!

My daughter had her final ‘Abitur’ exam this morning. The Abitur is the end-of-school exam that that qualifies you for higher education. The equivalent of A-levels in the UK. When I talk to friends and relatives in the UK about this, it reminds me how different the two systems are.

Number of subjects

In the UK you usually take A-levels in three, or possibly, four subjects. Here in Germany – or at least in our state of Baden-Württemberg – you take a broader range of subjects right up to the end. These all get tested and graded throughout the final two years of school, and in addition students choose five of them as final exam subjects: four written and one oral.

Grades

The final grades are not A to E like in the UK. In Germany, tests during the last two years of school, plus the five final exams, are graded on a scale of 1 to 15 (with 15 being the best). Then everything is thrown together, weighted and turned into an average. So you end up with a single Abitur grade between 1 (the highest) and 6. It can also be a decimal – 2.4, 1.6, and so on.

University prospects

When applying for further education, UK students are generally limited to the three or four subjects they studied at A-level. German school-leavers with an Abitur under their belts are able to apply for most university courses. Subjects such as law or medicine do require certain grades.

What’s next?

Now that the stress is over, my daughter plans to work and travel for a year and consider her options. And I have to say I’m quite excited to be done with the school years and that I no longer have to plan around school holidays. Bring it on!

What does this have to do with translation?

Well, if you’re translating qualifications for an application, it’s generally best to leave them in the original language. You can’t translate ‘Abitur’ as ‘A-Levels’ or ‘High School Certificate’, etc, because – as we’ve seen – they are very different things and it would be misleading. Universities are generally used to applications from foreign students. They’ll have an understanding of what an ‘Abitur’ involves and will have a system in place for calculating the equivalent grades.