International Baccalaureate
and Czech School Leaving Exams

Students choose our school thanks to accessible international education that gives them the opportunity to be highly successful in a global world. Our students take the International Baccalaureate (IB) school leaving exam. They can also choose traditional Czech School Leaving Exams or various combinations of both kind of exams. We spend most of their studies preparing them for all the options, and they have to make a decision at the beginning of their final year.

We only accept Czech students and/or students with a Czech residency permit.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

The International Baccalaureate exams are most often chosen by students who already know that they want to study abroad. This is because good results in these exams help them in the entrance exams for Oxford, Stanford, Berkeley and a range of other prestigious universities. And our students genuinely have good results.

Czech School Leaving Exams

Czech exams are quite understandably chosen mainly by students who do not plan to move abroad. It is, of course, not impossible for students who only have Czech school leaving certificates to study abroad, but it is somewhat more complicated.

The Czech school leaving exams are made up of two parts, state and school exams. The state part of the exams is assigned by the Ministry of Education and contains exams in Czech and a choice of English and Mathematics. In the school part of the exams students choose an exam in two subjects of their own choice. Open Gate provides the room to discuss matters in depth and to ask about the genuine meaning of things, so these choices can also include subjects in which they have already taken state exams.

IB and Czech School Leaving Exams

A large number of our students want to leave all options open. For this reason, they take both the IB and Czech school leaving exams. We prepare each student in a way that makes them capable of using and understanding information, so it doesn’t matter who’s asking the question or how they ask.

Czech School Leaving Exams
and IB Certificates

Students who are preparing to study in the Czech Republic but who would also like to take advantage of research fellowships and study stays abroad sometimes add International Baccalaureate certificates to their Czech school leaving exams. This typically happens in subjects that are applicable to their planned field of study. Certificates serve as proof that students take their study field seriously and are capable in that field.

International Baccalaureate (IB)
and a State Czech Language Exam

This combination is available to our students thanks to an exception granted to Open Gate by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. Under this option, the International Baccalaureate and Czech school leaving exam are both recognised. In addition to the IB, however, students must also pass a state Czech language exam.

Specifications of the School Leaving Exams for the School Year 2023/2024

Field of education 79-41-K/8

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 78 and Section 79 of Act No. 561/2004 Coll., on pre-school, primary, secondary higher vocational and other education (Education Act), as amended, I hereby establish the following rules for the selection of subjects for the school leaving exam in 2024:

1. Common part of the school leaving exam

a) the compulsory part

Students will take the school leaving exam in two subjects

  1. Czech language and literature
  2. a foreign language or mathematics ( students may choose a foreign language from English, French, Spanish or German)

b) the optional part

Students may take up to two optional exams from the following menu

  1. mathematics – if not selected in the compulsory part
  2. foreign language (EL, FL, SL, GL) – if not selected in the compulsory part
  3. mathematics extension

2. Profile part of the school leaving exam

The profile part of the school leaving exam consists of an exam in Czech language and literature, and if the student has chosen a foreign language in the common part of the school leaving exam, an exam in this foreign language, and 2 other compulsory exams. A student may also take a maximum of 2 optional examinations as part of the profile part of the matriculation examination.

The exams in Czech language and literature and in a foreign language are always held in the form of a written paper and an oral examination before the school leaving exam board. The form of the other exams is specified in the specification of each subject.

Compulsory exams:

Students can choose from the following:

  1. Foreign language (FL, SL, GL)
  2. English
  3. History
  4. Economics
  5. Mathematics
  6. Physics
  7. IB Chemistry
  8. IB Biology
  9. Biology
  10. Chemistry
  11. Psychology
  12. Environmental education
  13. Global Politics
  14. Business and management
  15. Visual arts

Optional exams: (maximum 2 subjects can be chosen):

All subjects listed as compulsory.

Students must apply for graduation no later than December 1st, 2023.  


In Babice, on September 1st, 2023

Ing. Petra Dobešová

head of Open Gate school