🇸🇰 Slovakia
This page describes how schools in Slovakia 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: The last year of kindergarten (age 5-6) has been compulsory since 2021. It gives no marks. The preparatory class (prípravný ročník) and zero class (nultý ročník) in basic school may use the four verbal levels. Their overall result is only prospel / neprospel.
| Years | Stage | Scale | Pass | Recipe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Základná škola, 1. stupeň: prípravný / nultý ročník, 1.-4. ročník (early primary) | 1-5 marks (1 best), or verbal assessment in four levels, or a combination; the head decides per subject | 4 (dostatočný) or 'dosiahol uspokojivé výsledky' | School decides |
| 5-9 | Základná škola, 1. stupeň year 5 and 2. stupeň, or lower years of an 8-year gymnázium (lower secondary) | 1-5, 1 best | 4 (dostatočný) | 1 is the best |
| 10-13 | Stredná škola: gymnázium, stredná odborná škola (4-5 years) (upper secondary) | 1-5, 1 best | 4 (dostatočný) | 1 is the best |
Values in Základná škola, 1. stupeň: prípravný / nultý ročník, 1.-4. ročník (early primary)
| Value | Local word | English |
|---|---|---|
| VDV | dosiahol veľmi dobré výsledky | achieved very good results |
| DV | dosiahol dobré výsledky | achieved good results |
| UV | dosiahol uspokojivé výsledky | achieved satisfactory results |
| NV | dosiahol neuspokojivé výsledky | achieved unsatisfactory results (fail) |
Values in Základná škola, 1. stupeň year 5 and 2. stupeň, or lower years of an 8-year gymnázium (lower secondary)
| Value | Local word | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | výborný | excellent |
| 2 | chválitebný | very good / commendable |
| 3 | dobrý | good |
| 4 | dostatočný | sufficient (lowest pass) |
| 5 | nedostatočný | insufficient (fail) |
The year. Two half-years (polroky). At the end of the first half-year (late January), the school gives an extract of results (výpis). A report card is given only if the parent asks. On 30 June, all pupils get the year-end report card (vysvedčenie). It covers both half-years.
Averages and rounding. The guideline says the grade is NOT set from the average of the period's marks. The teacher judges the quality of knowledge at the end of the period, and takes into account steady work across the period. Pupils in basic school must be assessed at least twice per half-year. Schools set the weight of marks, usually by task difficulty. The average of compulsory subjects is used for the overall result: 'prospel s vyznamenaním' = average 1.5 or better, no mark worse than 2, behaviour very good; 'prospel veľmi dobre' = average 2.0 or better, no mark worse than 3, behaviour very good.
Passing the year. Overall result (from year 2): prospel(a) s vyznamenaním (PV), prospel(a) veľmi dobre (PVD), prospel(a) (P: no 5 in a compulsory subject), neprospel(a) (N: a 5 remains after the resit). A pupil with a fail in no more than two compulsory subjects at the end of the second half-year can take a resit exam (opravná skúška) before a commission of at least three members, if the head allows it. With more than two fails, or a failed resit, the pupil repeats the year. 'neklasifikovaný / nehodnotený' is written when a subject cannot be assessed.
Conduct. Behaviour (správanie) in four levels: 1 veľmi dobré (very good, VD), 2 uspokojivé (satisfactory, USP), 3 menej uspokojivé (less satisfactory, MUSP), 4 neuspokojivé (unsatisfactory, NEUSP). Separate praise (pochvala) and sanctions (napomenutie, pokarhanie; in secondary school also conditional exclusion and exclusion). Behaviour cannot lower a subject mark.
Differences between regions or school types. Rules are national. Since January 2022, the main assessment rules are in §55-57 of the School Act (245/2008). Each school's educational programme decides marks or verbal assessment per subject, and which subjects are not marked. Schools with Hungarian as the teaching language use the same scale, with bilingual report cards.
Common practice that is not official. Not official: weighted averages in the EduPage e-register (weights by type of work); percentage bands for tests (for example 100-90% = 1); +/- or in-between marks on current work; points systems. The guideline says the report-card grade must not be just the average.
National exams.
- Testovanie 5 / Testovanie 9 (national testing) (year 5 and 9): Percentage of success per subject (Slovak or Hungarian language, mathematics)
- Maturitná skúška - externá časť (external part, NÚCEM / NIVAM) (year 13): Percentage of success in a standardised test
- Maturitná skúška - interná časť (internal part) (year 13): Written form (essay): percentage, pass above 25%. Oral form: 1-5 grades.
Words you will meet
známka (mark), klasifikácia (classification by marks), slovné hodnotenie (verbal assessment), stupeň prospechu (grade), priemer (average), polrok (half-year term), vysvedčenie (report card), výpis hodnotenia (extract of results), celkové hodnotenie (overall result), správanie (behaviour), opravná skúška (resit exam), katalógový list (pupil record sheet)
Set it up in MarkBook
Make a scale 'Slovakia 1-5', lower is better: 1 výborný, 2 chválitebný, 3 dobrý, 4 dostatočný, 5 nedostatočný (fail). Store points 1-5. Make a verbal scale for years 0-4: VDV, DV, UV, NV (fail), with points 1-4 if a calculation is needed. Use two periods (1. polrok, 2. polrok). Each period gets current-mark columns (at least two per half-year) with school weights, a calculated weighted average shown with 2 decimals as a guide only, and a teacher-entered half-year mark. Add a calculated average of compulsory half-year marks with two flags: 1.5 or better and no mark worse than 2 gives PV; 2.0 or better and no mark worse than 3 gives PVD. Both need behaviour 1. Make a behaviour scale with four levels (veľmi dobré ... neuspokojivé).
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.
Slovakia · verbal (years 1–4)
Judgement scale for years 1-4 (Základná škola, 1. stupeň: prípravný / nultý ročník, 1.-4. ročník (early primary)). Build it in Configuration → Assessment → Judgement scales. Recipe: Words instead of marks.
| Grade | Description | Weight | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| VDV | dosiahol veľmi dobré výsledky · achieved very good results | 4 | yes |
| DV | dosiahol dobré výsledky · achieved good results | 3 | yes |
| UV | dosiahol uspokojivé výsledky · achieved satisfactory results | 2 | yes |
| NV | dosiahol neuspokojivé výsledky · achieved unsatisfactory results (fail) | 1 | no |
Slovakia · 1–5
Attainment scale for years 5-9 (Základná škola, 1. stupeň year 5 and 2. stupeň, or lower years of an 8-year gymnázium (lower secondary)). Build it in Configuration → Assessment → Attainment scales. Recipe: A scale where 1 is the best mark.
| Grade | Description | Weight | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | výborný · excellent | 1 | yes |
| 2 | chválitebný · very good / commendable | 2 | yes |
| 3 | dobrý · good | 3 | yes |
| 4 | dostatočný · sufficient (lowest pass) | 4 | yes |
| 5 | nedostatočný · insufficient (fail) | 5 | no |
Before you rely on this page
Confidence: medium
The details rest on Guideline 22/2011, which may be outdated since the 2022 School Act amendments (§55-57 not opened). The two Eurydice promotion rules contradict each other. The 2023 State Educational Programme may add more verbal assessment in years 1-3. The details come from Guideline 22/2011. Since January 2022, §55-57 of the School Act hold the main assessment rules, and one school source calls the guideline 'mostly obsolete'. The ministry page still lists it as in force (as amended by 40/2021). The scale, verbal levels, behaviour levels and overall categories are the same in both, as far as I know, but I did not open §55 directly (the legal site refused access). I did not open the secondary-school guideline (21/2011); upper-secondary details are from Eurydice and general knowledge. The maturita thresholds come from search results quoting the 2018 law text; later changes are possible. I did not confirm the Testovanie 5/9 scale. Eurydice gives two different promotion thresholds (fail in more than one subject vs. resit for up to two). The 2023 State Educational Programme (from September 2023, cycles: years 1-3, 4-5, 6-9) is being phased in and may bring more verbal or criterion-based assessment in the early years.