Bagrut Certificate
The Bagrut Certificate is the official Israeli matriculation certificate. The certificate empowers its owner, after the consideration of bonuses (see below) and alongside the Psychometric Entrance Test (see below), to be considered for admission to higher education institutes.
The actual tests in each subject are taken throughout high school. The level of difficulty in each subject is expressed as "learning units" (yehidot limud), from 1 (least difficult) to 5 (most difficult). In order to receive a matriculation certificate, the student must take and pass (a score of 55% or more) at least one subject matter exam at the 5-unit level of difficulty and earn a total of at least 21 combined learning units in all Bagrut exams taken.
Bonuses
In Israel, students who take advanced courses (4 and 5 learning units Bagrut examinations) in high school benefit from additional bonuses when applying to local institutions of higher education.
The bonus raises the candidate's GPA and thus improves his/her chances to be admitted to competitive local universities and/or departments. The final grades on the Bagrut Certificate are listed without any of these bonuses.
For clarification:
* A 4 learning units examination entitles the candidate to an additional 10 bonus points. (for example, if the original grade is 70, the final grade including the bonus will be 80).
* A 5 learning units examination entitles the candidate to an additional 20 bonus points.
* A special bonus is awarded to the subjects of Mathematic and English when taken at a level of 4 or 5 learning units. Instead of 10 points and 20 bonus points, 12.5 and 25 points are awarded respectively.
Bonuses are awarded only if:
* The grade is 60 and above.
* No bonus will be awarded for a "combined subject" (for example, Hebrew
Literature + Hebrew Composition).
* The subject appears on List No. 1 (Please see below).
(Based on information published by the Israeli Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, and prepared by Evelyn Levinson, Director of the Educational Information Center of the Fulbright Foundation in Israel, and with the assistance of the Israeli
Center for Academic Studies in the USA (in Tel-Aviv), May 1998)
Psychometric Entrance Test
The Psychometric Entrance Test (PET) is a standardized test in Israel, generally taken as a higher education admission exam. The PET covers three areas: quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning and the English language. It is administered by the Israeli National Institute for Testing and Evaluation (NITE) and is heavily weighed for university admissions. The PET is a tool for predicting academic performance, and is used by institutions of higher education to evaluate applicants for the various departments. The test ranks all applicants on a uniform scale. In general, students who received high Psychometric Entrance Test scores are more successful in their academic studies than students who received low scores. In addition, of all the screening tools available to institutions of higher education, the combination of the Psychometric Entrance Test and the matriculation exams has proven to have the best predictive ability. The scale of the total psychometric score ranges from 200 to 800 points.
Percentile ranks and their corresponding PET scores
Percentile / Score (overall)98th / ≥725
95th / ≥700
91st / ≥675
85th / ≥650
78th / ≥625
70th / ≥600
62nd / ≥575
53rd / ≥550
45th / ≥525
36th / ≥500
28th / ≥475
21st / ≥450
15th / ≥425
10th / ≥400
6th / ≥375
3rd / ≥350
(Based on information published by the National Institute for Testing and Evaluating of Israel, July 2010)
List No. 1
Electronics Agricultural Machinery
(Electronics + Computers or Communication) Instrumentation and Control
Art (Art History) Agricultural Machines
Dance Power Machines & Thermodynamics
Biology, Microbiology, Agricultural Mechanics (Engineering Mechanics)
Biology Instruments and Command
Aircrafts Engines (Aviation Systems &
Machine Control Engines)
Geography Hardware & Software Systems
Geology Mathematics and Management
Hebrew Composition Management
History (General History + civics) Systems Analysis & File Organization
Aeronautics Literature
Agriculture Automatic Data Processing
Electricity (Electrical Systems) Physics
Chemistry and Technology Machine Elements & Strength of
Environmental Studies Materials
Study of the Land of Israel Cinema (Cinema Art)
Social Sciences Air Conditioning
Life Sciences First or Second Foreign Language
Various Music Subjects (Arabic, French, English)
Computers (Computers Theory, Information Oral Bible
Systems, Computer Science, Theatre (History of Theatre, Literature &
Computerization and Control). Theatre)
Meteorology Structure Engineering Design
Talmud
Bible Studies
Thermodynamics