Continuing your education in Bulgaria after 4th and 7th Grade

Updated on 8 September 2023

In this article, you will find information on the specific procedures concerning admission in Grade 5 and Grade 8 to Bulgarian schools. This concerns children who have already been enrolled in a Bulgarian school and are a part of the educational system.

If you want to find out how to enrol in a Bulgarian school for the first time, read:

Enrolling children in a Bulgarian school for the first time

Important! Keep in mind that to be enrolled in 5^th or 8^th grade, your child needs to take National External Evaluation Exams (NEEE) and go through a special application procedure. This is mandatory, not only when the child wants to switch schools, but also when your child wants to continue to study in the same school they have been attending until 4^th or 7^th grade.

What are the National External Evaluation Exams (NEEE)?

Within the last three weeks of the school year 4-graders and 7-graders have to take the written National External Evaluation Exams (NEEE) - one in Bulgarian Language and Literature and one in Mathematics. The exact dates are announced every year by the Ministry of Education.

In most cases, children take these exams at the school they are attending.

The exam in Bulgarian Language and Literature includes:

a dictation and/or
composing a short text
reading comprehension with multiple choice and short answer questions

The Math test includes:

multiple choice
short answer questions

Each exam has a total score of 100 points.

You can check the exam results at the school, which the student attends, or via the e-system.

You can find examples of the National External Evaluation Exams with key solutions for previous years for 4-graders and for 7-graders on the website of the Ministry of Education.

7-graders can request to also take an additional External Evaluation Exam in the foreign language studied as an obligatory subject in their school.

The Minister of Education can include additional school subjects to the NEEE.

Why are the National External Evaluation Exams important?

To transition from one school level to another

These exams are mandatory to be able to transit from elementary school level to junior high school level (from 4^th to 5^th grade) as well as from primary to secondary school level (7^th to 8^th grade).

The results of each evaluation exam at Grade 4 are transformed into grades (excellent 6, very good 5, good 4, average 3, or poor 2) and are recorded in the Certificate of Elementary stage of primary education. If the exam grade is poor 2, however, it is not included in the Certificate and does NOT prevent the student from entering 5^th grade.

The exam results at Grade 7 are transformed into points (1 to 100) and are recorded in the Certificate of Primary Education. In case your child receives low points, that doesn't automatically mean that they won't be admitted to grade 8 in any school. However, you need to make sure that when applying for a school you include as many schools as possible in your preference list, taking into consideration the requirements of each school (see below Application procedure after Grade 7).

To switch to another specialized school

Your child’s exam results determine the admission to another school after completing Grade 4 or Grade 7. Information on the application procedure is provided below.

Application procedure after Grade 4

Your child has two options:

To stay at the same school, if this is possible and the school admits children after 4^th grade.
To switch schools and be enrolled in a new one.

In both scenarios, there is an application procedure.

The application procedure depends on the type of school your child wishes to enrol in. A student who has completed Grade 4 can apply to:

1) A special-profile high school with a profile in Mathematics or Natural Sciences

2) A specialized school – sports school, art school, or culture school.

3) A primary school, a secondary school or an integrated school – if there is а vacant spot in the class the student wants to join

Admission to special-profile high schools with a profile in Mathematics or Natural Sciences

The admission in this case is based on your child’s:

results in the National External Evaluation Exams
grades in the Certificate of Elementary stage of primary education
results from at least:
one Mathematical and/or a Natural science Olympiad at a municipal level and one competition in the Math and/or Natural Science field, OR
two competitions in the field of Mathematics and/or Natural Sciences

In order to apply for such a school, you need to submit an application to the principal of the school you want to apply to – you can find the template in Bulgarian language here.

Students may apply for multiple schools in more than one municipality. Admissions are carried out until 15 July for the upcoming school year.

Specialized schools

These schools have their own admission exams. You can find information about the requirements, admission exams, deadlines and details regarding the application procedure on the webpage of the specialized school you have chosen or by visiting the school’s administration.

Enrollment in a primary, secondary, or integrated school

Admission in these schools depends on whether they have vacant spots for the specific grade and profile. Vacancies are announced at the school’s website as well as at the websites of the Regional Departments of Education.

Transfer from one school to another is possible throughout the school year.

Application procedure after Grade 7

Your child has two options:

To stay at the same school, if this is possible and the school admits children after 7^th grade.
To switch schools and be enrolled in a new one.

There are three possible ways for your child to enrol into a new school after Grade 7:

apply to a non-specialized school using the National External Evaluation Exam results;
apply to a specialized school by taking admission exams;
transfer to a high school, secondary or integrated school if there are vacant spots in the respective class.

Applying to a non-specialized school using the National External Evaluation Exam results

This is the most common choice for students. Those who are no older than 17 years old in the year of application, can apply for the following non-specialized schools:

high schools with a special profile (e.g. language high schools, high schools of mathematics, high schools of humanitarian sciences, etc.);
vocational high schools (e.g. commercial high schools, vocational schools of
computer programming, of clothing, of food technology, of electrical engineering
and electronics, mechanical engineering, etc)
secondary schools;
integrated schools.

School admissions in grade 8 are carried out based on the students’ preferences, their NEEE results and their grades recorded in the Certificate of Primary Education.

The ranking of the applicants for the respective school is in descending order - from those with the highest results to those with the lowest. Children with high results are more likely to be enrolled in a school of their desire.

Important! Children can apply for an unlimited number of schools, including schools in more than one municipality. Since the free spots in the respective schools are filled with the applicants who have the highest results, it is highly advisable that children apply for multiple schools by listing them in order of preference to make sure that they do not end up without a school.

To take part in the application procedure, children submit an application form with the enlisted preferences starting from the most preferred to the least preferred school. The application can be submitted:

Аt one of the schools accepting application documents. The list of these schools for every region is usually announced on the page of the respective Regional Department of Education in the section called “Admission of students” or something similar.
Оnline at https://infopriem.mon.bg/login If you wish to apply online, you must get a note from the school your child is currently attending. In this note, you will find an entry number and a password for access to the portal.

You as a parent or a guardian of the child need to file the application within the deadline set out by the Ministry of Education for the respective school year. Check the calendar available here and choose 7^th grade. Each year the dates are different.

If your child is applying for vocational high schools, you also need to attach a medical clearance issued by your family doctor.

The application procedure has 4 admission stages:

STAGE I

All applicants participate in the FIRST STAGE.

At this stage, most students are admitted to a preferred school and can enrol within the deadline set out by the Ministry of Education for the respective school year.

If your child is admitted to the school of their first preference, you need to enrol him/her as soon as possible. If you miss the deadline, your child will have to skip a school year.

However, if the school in which your child is accepted is not their most preferred option, you can either:

Enrol your child in that school, OR
Apply for a more preferred school by participating in the SECOND STAGE. In this case, your child loses their spot in the school in which they were admitted at STAGE I.

In both cases you and your child have to go to the school they were admitted to and either:

Fill in documents for enrolment (an application form to the principal, an original Certificate of primary education, contacts of the parents, etc.); OR
Submit an application for participation in the STAGE II.

If you do not take any actions within the deadline, your child will have to skip the school year.

STAGE II

This stage is for students who:

Were not admitted into the school they wanted as a first preference and want to try again (see the information above); and
Were not admitted to any of the schools on their list of preferences in STAGE I. In this case, they automatically participate in STAGE II.

In the second admission stage students are can be admitted to the school they listed as first preference at STAGE I or to a more preferred school. This can happen if some spots were made available after STAGE I, because, for example, another child decided not to enroll in that particular school for some reason.

At this point, students must enroll in the school they were admitted to or they will lose their spot.

STAGE III

The third stage is for children who still have not enrolled in any school in Bulgaria, including those who apply for the first time at this stage. They must submit an application form and list their school preferences. Again, they either enroll in the school they have been admitted to or they lose their spot.

STAGE IV

The steps, which must be taken for participation in the fourth admission stage are the same as those that apply for the third one. This is the last admission stage.

Admission to specialized schools after Grade 7

Each school has an internal procedure which requires passing admission exams. Children apply to the school based on the results of the admission exams, the results of the National External Evaluation Exams and the grades recorded in the Certificate of Primary Education.

Information about the admission exams, deadlines and other requirements is provided by the respective specialized school.

Transfer from one school to another after Grade 7

This can be done only if the new school has vacant places for 8-graders. Students can be transferred to another school throughout the school year, but no later than 30 school days before the end of each school term.

Information on the vacant places can be found on the school’s website as well as on the websites of the Regional Departments of Education.

Can students studying abroad take the National External Evaluation Exams?

Students who wish to apply for schools after Grade 4 or Grade 7 and have completed a grade equivalent to the Bulgarian Grade 4 or Grade 7 abroad can also take the NEEE and enroll in a Bulgarian school.

The grade they have completed abroad has to be officially recognized in Bulgaria – information on the recognition procedure can be found in section II.1. of our article “Enrolling children in a Bulgarian school for the first time”. They have to submit an application form to the Regional Department of Education at the municipality, where they are going to apply by January, 10^th of the year of application.

On this link, you can find an example application form for the Sofia region for 4^th graders.

On this link, you can find an example application form for the Sofia region for 7^th graders.

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