🇭🇷 Croatia
This page describes how schools in Croatia grade pupils, from the first year of primary school (year 1, about age 6–7) to the end of upper secondary, and how to build the same system in MarkBook. Back to Find Your Country.
Check the current rules
This description comes from public sources (ministry pages, national laws, Eurydice) read in October 2026. Rules change with reforms, and schools often have local rules. Check the current official text for anything your school reports to the ministry.
How pupils are graded
Before year 1: Predškola (compulsory pre-school programme in the year before school, age 5-6) is not graded.
| Years | Stage | Scale | Pass | Recipe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Razredna nastava, 1. razred (primary, year 1) | First half-year: no numerical marks; the teacher monitors and encourages, with descriptive notes. Second half-year: numerical marks 1-5 as in other years. | 2 (dovoljan) | School decides |
| 2-8 | Osnovna škola, 1.-8. razred (primary 1-4 class teaching, 5-8 subject teaching) | 1-5, 5 best. Each mark should be accompanied by a descriptive note. | 2 (dovoljan) | Whole-number marks |
| 9-12 | Srednja škola - gimnazija, strukovne i umjetničke škole (upper secondary) | 1-5, 5 best | 2 (dovoljan) | Whole-number marks |
Values in Razredna nastava, 1. razred (primary, year 1)
| Value | Local word | English |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | odličan | Excellent |
| 4 | vrlo dobar | Very good |
| 3 | dobar | Good |
| 2 | dovoljan | Sufficient |
| 1 | nedovoljan | Insufficient (fail) |
The year. Two half-years (polugodišta): September to December, January to June (shorter for final-year secondary pupils). A notice of results / mid-year report is given at the end of the first half-year; the final mark (zaključna ocjena) and the certificate (svjedodžba) are given at the end of the school year. Teachers must hold at least three parent meetings per year.
Averages and rounding. There is no official half-year final mark; the binding mark is the year-end zaključna ocjena. It expresses the level reached over the whole year and 'does not have to follow from the arithmetic mean of the marks entered', especially if the pupil improved in the second half-year (teacher judgement). No legal minimum number of marks per term was found; written tests must be announced and limited per week. Overall success (opći uspjeh) for pupils with all passing marks: arithmetic mean of all final subject marks: odličan at least 4.50, vrlo dobar 3.50-4.49, dobar 2.50-3.49, dovoljan 2.00-2.49. Conduct is not in the average.
Passing the year. All final marks at least 2: the pupil moves up. One or two final marks of 1: compulsory supplementary classes (dopunski rad), then a remedial exam (popravni ispit) by 25 August if still failing. Three or more 1s, or failing the remedial exam: insufficient overall success and repeat the year. In years 1-3 of primary, one insufficient mark may exceptionally be allowed. In secondary a pupil may repeat the same year at most twice. Appeal: within two days to the teachers' council, then an exam before a three-member committee.
Conduct. Vladanje (conduct) is graded descriptively by the class teacher: uzorno (exemplary), dobro (good), loše (poor). It is written on the certificate and does not count in the average.
Differences between regions or school types. National rules for all schools. Schools of national minorities (model A, e.g. Serbian, Italian, Hungarian) use the same scale. Vocational schools may also have a final work (završni rad) instead of the matura. Experimental programme 'Osnovna škola kao cjelodnevna škola' (from 2023) pilots changes in some primary schools.
Common practice that is not official. Teachers commonly score written tests in points and convert to marks with percentage bands (often around 50% for 2, 63% for 3, 76% for 4, 89% for 5; each school or teacher sets its own). Notes of '+' / '-' or 'oznaka' for homework are common in teachers' records. None of this is official; only marks 1-5 and descriptive notes are entered.
National exams.
- Nacionalni ispiti (national exams, NCVVO) (year 4 and 8): Points / percentage, not school marks
- Državna matura (State Matura, NCVVO) (year 12): Marks 1-5 derived from points with pass thresholds set per subject and year (from 2024/25: 30% for language and social-humanities subjects, 25% for science and mathematics)
Words you will meet
ocjena (mark), brojčana / opisna ocjena (numerical / descriptive mark), zaključna ocjena (final year mark), opći uspjeh (overall success), prosjek (average), polugodište (half-year), vladanje (conduct), imenik / e-Dnevnik (register), svjedodžba (certificate), popravni ispit (remedial exam), dopunski rad (supplementary classes), vrednovanje (assessment).
Set it up in MarkBook
Scale 'HR 1-5' (5 odličan ... 1 nedovoljan, points = number, pass at 2) and scale 'HR conduct' (uzorno, dobro, loše; no points, excluded from average). Per subject, add one column group per element of assessment (elementi vrednovanja) for each half-year, plus a comment column for the descriptive note. For year 1, hide numerical columns in the first half-year and use comment columns only. Add a calculated mean (two decimals) as guidance and a teacher-entered year-end final mark that may differ from the mean. Overall success: calculated mean of final marks, two decimals, labelled with the 4.50/3.50/2.50/2.00 bands; conduct entered separately.
The scales, ready to copy
These are the scales as MarkBook shows them in the scale editor. Build yours with the same grades, descriptions and weights. Each scale links to the recipe that explains it on Set Up Any Grading System.
Croatia · 1–5
Attainment scale for years 1 (Razredna nastava, 1. razred (primary, year 1)). Build it in Configuration → Assessment → Attainment scales. Recipe: Whole-number marks.
| Grade | Description | Weight | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | odličan · Excellent | 5 | yes |
| 4 | vrlo dobar · Very good | 4 | yes |
| 3 | dobar · Good | 3 | yes |
| 2 | dovoljan · Sufficient | 2 | yes |
| 1 | nedovoljan · Insufficient (fail) | 1 | no |
Before you rely on this page
Confidence: high
I did not confirm whether a formal half-year mark exists (the rulebook names only the year-end final mark; Eurydice mentions a mid-term report). The year 4/8 national exams and their reporting scale were not verified against an NCVVO page. The test percentage bands are common practice, not law. Matura thresholds change yearly; check ncvvo.hr. Eurydice pages were last updated 2023; a reform of the assessment rulebook may follow the whole-day school pilot.
Sources (4)
- Eurydice: Croatia - Assessment in single-structure education (official)
- Eurydice (HR): Praćenje i vrednovanje u gimnazijama (official)
- Pravilnik o načinima, postupcima i elementima vrednovanja učenika u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi - pročišćeni tekst (NN 112/10, 82/19, 43/20, 100/21), school copy (official)
- tportal: Uvode se novi pragovi prolaznosti na državnoj maturi (2024)