Students underperform in history, physics and maths in university entrance exam

Almost 60% of candidates in the recent Panhellenic examinations scored less than 50% in the history, physics and mathematics papers, the results from the Education Ministry have shown.

The annual exams, which this year were sat by 90,416 candidates, determine who enters the country’s universities.

In history, 59.9% of candidates failed to score 50% in the paper, which was also the case for 58.9% and 58.4% of candidates in physics and mathematics, respectively.

On the other hand, only 4.6% of candidates in math scored higher than 80%. Some 7.2% of candidates did so in physics and 10.5% in history.

In the economics paper, almost one in three candidates (32%) scored less than 25%, while that figure was 23.3% in information technology.

At the other end of the scale, only 1.6% and 2.2% of candidates scored more than 80% in Modern Greek and Ancient Greek, respectively.

In a statement, physics professors in seven universities said the questions in the physics paper “gave a wrong message about the science … which should not be about the speedy answering of sophisticated exercises.”

The Federation of Education Providers of Greece described the history paper as “demanding, even for very well-prepared students.”