Наталя Хандусенко Around IT 4 June 2026, 13:42

MPs want to abolish compulsory mathematics at NMT. We analyze the exam results over 4 years: applicants pass mathematics on average 10–14 points lower than language and history

On June 2, 2026, a group of people's deputies registered a bill proposing to make mathematics an optional subject rather than a mandatory subject at the National Secondary Educational Test (NSTE). Against the backdrop of this news, which is gaining momentum in the media space, dev.ua decided to analyze the results of the NSTE for four years, starting from 2022, when this test was introduced instead of the external assessment test.

Reference

The National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) is a one-day computer-based online exam that replaced the external examination for admission to a bachelor's degree in 2022. The test consists of 4 subjects: 3 mandatory (Ukrainian language, mathematics, history of Ukraine) and 1 at the applicant's choice.

The exam is taken in special temporary examination centers in Ukraine and abroad. It is divided into two stages of 2 subjects each, with a 20-minute break between them. Each stage is given 120 minutes, which the applicant distributes between the two subjects independently.

Since the test is computer-based, the participant sees their initial test scores on the screen immediately after completing the exam. These scores are then automatically converted into an official 100-200 rating scale for submission to higher education institutions.

According to Osvita.ua , over the past four years, there has been an increase in the total number of registered exam participants. If in the first year of the multitest implementation (2022), about 238,000 people registered for it, then by 2025 this figure had increased by almost a third, reaching a record 317,091 people. At the same time, the actual turnout of graduates at testing points during the main sessions remained consistently high, fluctuating within 90.1–92.8%.

How many participants failed the math test?

In the first year of the multitest implementation, in 2022, the official criterion of "failed" was absent from the statistics due to the need to simplify the admission campaign as much as possible.

However, in 2023, the rules changed: with the introduction of a minimum threshold of 4 points, a relatively small proportion of graduates failed the exam, accounting for 4.2% of the total number of those who took the test.

In 2024, the threshold score was raised by just 1 point to 5 points, but this provoked a rapid increase in the number of failures, and a peak of 12.8% of participants did not pass the threshold. In 2025, despite a record number of registered applicants (317,091 people) and maintaining the threshold of 5 points, the percentage of those who failed mathematics decreased slightly and was fixed at 11.9%.

Average score

It should be noted that the average score is available only for the last two years (2024 and 2025), since in 2022 and 2023 the methodology for calculating or publishing the overall average score differed due to adaptation processes in the education system.

In 2024, the average score of applicants for the mathematics block was 132.5 on a scale of 100 to 200 points. The following year, in 2025, this indicator showed minimal fluctuations and was fixed at 132.3 points.

Comparison with Ukrainian

The number of applicants who failed the Ukrainian language test at all is negligible. In 2023, when the threshold was minimal (5 points), only 0.09% of participants failed the test — that is, virtually everyone passed the exam. In 2024, the threshold was raised to 7 points, which led to a predicted, but still very slight increase in the number of failures — to 0.4%. In 2025, under the same conditions (threshold of 7 points), this indicator was fixed at the identical level — the same 0.4%. This means that more than 99.6% of applicants consistently overcome the minimum barrier.

The average score in Ukrainian was 146.8 in 2024 and 146.3 in 2025.

As for history, in 2023, when the threshold was 6 points, only 0.15% of participants failed the test. The following year, 2024, despite the increase in the threshold score to 8, the percentage of failures did not increase, and even symbolically decreased to 0.1%. In 2025, with a similar threshold of 8 points, the figure was fixed at 0.16%.

The average history score was 143.2 in 2024 and 141.6 in 2025.

We remind you that dev.ua has collected comments from opinion leaders on the changes to the National Mathematical Model Law proposed by the People's Deputies. Why the math filter in schools is not about "stress", but about the survival of the state - read here.