Education in Portugal: school stages, the Exames Nacionais and university entry
A guide to schooling in Portugal, secondary courses, the national exams, how grades work, and how to apply to higher education.
In short
Education in Portugal is organised nationally by the ministry responsible for education, and schooling is compulsory for twelve years, from the age of six until eighteen or until a student completes secondary education. Most students finish school at about eighteen after Year 12, and those who want to go on to a university or polytechnic sit national exams, the Exames Nacionais, and apply through a single national competition for places. Vocational and professional routes are also well established, and students on them can continue to higher education too.
School stages
- Pre-school education: Optional and for children from three years old until they start school. A public network and many private and community institutions offer places.
- Basic education: Nine years in three cycles. The first cycle covers Years 1 to 4, the second Years 5 and 6, and the third Years 7 to 9. Pupils study Portuguese, mathematics, a foreign language, history and geography, sciences, arts, physical education and citizenship, and in the later cycles they take more specialised subjects. There are national tests at certain stages, but they are used mainly to monitor learning.
- Secondary education: Three years, Years 10 to 12, for students from about fifteen to eighteen. Students choose a course, which sets most of the subjects they will study.
Secondary courses
The main route to university is the science and humanities courses (cursos científico-humanísticos). These include Sciences and Technologies, Socioeconomic Sciences, Languages and Humanities, and Visual Arts. All students take Portuguese, a foreign language, philosophy and physical education, together with subjects chosen for their course. Students who prefer practical training can follow professional courses (cursos profissionais), which combine school subjects with technical training and work placements, and there are also artistic specialised courses. A student who finishes a professional course may still apply for higher education, although the entry exams required will depend on the course they want.
The national exams and grading
The Exames Nacionais are written exams that students take at the end of secondary education in selected subjects. Portuguese is taken by all students on the science and humanities route, and other subjects depend on the course, with mathematics A, history A, biology and geology, physics and chemistry, and others among those that students may take. The exams are prepared by the national educational assessment institute (IAVE) and run in schools across the country under rules set by the ministry, with two sessions in the summer so that students can retake an exam or improve a result.
Grades in Portugal use a scale from 0 to 20, and 10 is the lowest passing grade. In secondary school each subject gets an internal grade from the school, and where there is a national exam, the exam result and the internal grade are combined according to the rules set each year. Exams may also be used for entry to higher education, which is why many students take them even in subjects where they do not need the result to finish secondary school.
University and polytechnic entry
Applications to public higher education go through the national access competition (Concurso Nacional de Acesso), run by the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES). Applicants list the courses and institutions they want, in order of preference. Each course sets its own entry requirements: it names the entrance exams (provas de ingresso) that candidates must have taken, a minimum for them, and the weight given to the secondary grade and to the exam results. The places are then filled in order of the application grade, and each course publishes the grade of the last student admitted each year. Higher education includes both universities and polytechnic institutes, and it follows the Bologna structure, with a first degree (licenciatura), a master's degree and a doctorate. There are special routes for adults over twenty-three, for students with technical qualifications, and for international students.
Studying in Portugal as an international student
Students from abroad usually apply under a separate regime for international students, which has its own deadlines and rules, and many institutions publish their own admission information. If you plan to study in Portuguese you may be asked to show your level of the language, and some courses are taught in English. Check the website of the institution and of DGES before you apply, since dates and requirements can change.
Practising on GetMyMockTest
These are practice questions we wrote for study. They are not the official exams, and we do not claim they match an exam's current format. Free practice for Portugal:
- Exames Nacionais: mathematics A, Portuguese language and literature, and the history of Portugal, with timed tests and flashcards.
- Exame de Código: rules of the road and priority, road signs and markings, and driving safety and vehicle operation for category B driving licences.
- Portuguese general knowledge: history and politics, geography and nature, and science, arts and culture.
- IELTS, TOEFL, SAT and IB Diploma: international exams that some Portuguese students and international applicants also take.