Polish Secondary School Admission Points

Admission to a Polish szkoła ponadpodstawowa is decided by a number out of two hundred, and unlike almost everything else in this category the number is not a local convention: the multipliers and the point values are printed in a regulation that applies identically to every school in the country. This page adds them up exactly as that regulation words them and shows each part separately, because the parts are what a candidate can still influence — one grade moved from dobry to bardzo dobry is three points, which is the same as the entire volunteering credit.

How it is calculated

total = (polski × 0,35 + matematyka × 0,35 + język obcy × 0,3) + 4 grades + 7 + 18 + 3

Every figure here comes from the regulation of the Minister of Education of 3 April 2025 (Dz. U. 2025 poz. 464), which is in force. § 3 multiplies the egzamin ósmoklasisty results in Polish and mathematics by 0.35 and the modern foreign language by 0.3, so three perfect papers give exactly a hundred. § 4 sets the certificate grades at 18 points for celujący, 17 for bardzo dobry, 14 for dobry, 8 for dostateczny and 2 for dopuszczający. § 5 gives 7 points for a świadectwo ukończenia szkoły podstawowej z wyróżnieniem. § 6 lists what individual competition results are worth and ends by capping the lot: "maksymalna liczba punktów możliwych do przyznania za wszystkie osiągnięcia wynosi 18". § 7 gives 3 points for aktywność społeczna, volunteering included. Four grades are counted rather than all of them because art. 134 ust. 2 pkt 2 of the Prawo oświatowe names Polish, mathematics and two subjects the head teacher picks for that particular class. The 200 is the sum of those published maxima — 100 + 72 + 7 + 18 + 3 — not a figure the regulation prints anywhere.

Source: Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji z dnia 3 kwietnia 2025 r. w sprawie przeprowadzania postępowania rekrutacyjnego oraz postępowania uzupełniającego do publicznych przedszkoli, szkół, placówek i centrów (Dz. U. 2025 poz. 464), §§ 3-7

Questions people ask

Which admissions year does this cover?

The regulation loaded here is Dz. U. 2025 poz. 464, of 3 April 2025, which entered into force on 24 April 2025 and is the one in force now. Its only amendment since, Dz. U. 2026 poz. 1008 of 23 July 2026, rewrote § 10 about language aptitude tests and left every point value untouched. If the ministry changes a multiplier, this page is wrong until it is updated — check the Dziennik Ustaw before you rely on it for a live application.

Which two extra subjects count?

Whichever two the head teacher of the school you are applying to has designated for that particular class. The law fixes Polish and mathematics and leaves the other two to the school, so the same certificate is worth different totals at different schools — and a class list that names biology and chemistry is the only place to find out which.

Why is niedostateczny not in the list?

Because § 4 does not mention it. The regulation assigns points to five grades, from celujący down to dopuszczający, and says nothing about a failing one — a pupil with a niedostateczny has not completed the school and has no świadectwo ukończenia to be scored. Rather than inventing a zero the page leaves the grade out of the choices.

How do the competition points work?

They are itemised in § 6 and they do not simply add up. A finalist of a nationwide subject competition is worth 10 points, a laureate of a thematic one 7, and prizes in other contests run from 4 points at international level down to 1 at powiat level. Two results in the same contest at the same level count once, at the highest, and the total for all achievements together is capped at 18. This page takes the finished total as a number because the itemisation depends on what a kuratorium recognised in a given year.

What if I was excused from the egzamin ósmoklasisty?

§ 8 replaces the exam with certificate grades on a different table: for Polish and mathematics, 35 points for celujący, 30 for bardzo dobry, 25 for dobry, 15 for dostateczny and 10 for dopuszczający; for the foreign language, 30, 25, 20, 10 and 5. Those add to the same hundred at the top. This page assumes you sat the exam and takes the percentage results.

Should the total be rounded?

The regulation does not say, so this page does not round. Exam results are whole percentages and the multipliers have two decimal places, so a total can legitimately end in .5 or .25 — 80, 70 and 90 percent give 79.5 points from the exam alone. Local admission systems display this differently, but the arithmetic underneath is the same.

Related tools