Exams in grades 8 and 9
A reference page explaining the difference between fixed compulsory exams, mandatory exams, optional exam subjects, and subjects for random draw in the Danish folkeskole from the 2025/2026 school year onward.
Short answer
Exams in grades 8 and 9 document student performance in selected subjects and feed several of the grade-based datasets shown on the platform.
Exams in grades 8 and 9. Under the current folkeskole exam structure, pupils in the lower secondary years take six mandatory exams in total. One takes place in grade 8 as a fixed exam in a practical or arts elective. In grade 9, pupils take four fixed exams and one randomly drawn oral exam. In addition, there are optional exam subjects that a pupil may choose, but does not have to sit.
Why it matters
These terms are often blurred because 'mandatory' is used in more than one sense. Fixed exams are the ones that always take place, while subjects for random draw only become mandatory if that subject is actually drawn for the class.
The distinction matters when users interpret final exam results, average grades, and admission requirements. If a user looks only at grade 9, it is easy to miss that one mandatory exam is already completed in grade 8.
Data and methodology connection
The Ministry of Children and Education's overview of exam subjects in grades 8, 9, and 10 defines the structure in force from 1 August 2025: one fixed practical or arts elective exam in grade 8, four fixed exams in grade 9, one mandatory drawn exam in grade 9, and a separate set of optional exam subjects.
The ministry's page on the new exam structure also makes clear that the total number of mandatory exams in the lower secondary years was reduced from eight to six, and that the draw block now consists of six oral subjects. Older summaries can therefore be outdated.
Sources
Clarifications
What are fixed compulsory exams?
Fixed compulsory exams are the exams that are not decided by lottery. In the current structure there is one fixed exam in a practical or arts elective in grade 8 and four fixed exams in grade 9: oral Danish, written Danish, written mathematics, and the joint oral science exam in physics/chemistry, biology, and geography.
What does mandatory exams mean?
Mandatory exams are the full set of exams a pupil must take. From the 2025/2026 school year, there are six in total across the lower secondary years: the fixed practical or arts exam in grade 8, four fixed exams in grade 9, and one drawn exam in grade 9.
What are subjects for random draw?
Subjects for random draw are the pool of subjects that may be selected by lottery in grade 9. Each class sits one of the six oral subjects in the draw block: English, German/French, history, social studies, Christian studies, or mathematics.
What are optional exam subjects?
Optional exam subjects are subjects a pupil may choose to sit after completing instruction, but is not required to take. In the current ministry overview these include oral German/French as a third foreign language as well as food knowledge, crafts and design, visual arts, and music.
Examples
How the fixed part works
All pupils have one practical or arts exam in grade 8 and then sit the four fixed grade 9 exams. That part is not random.
How the draw works
A class may, for example, draw history. In that case history becomes mandatory for that class in that exam term, while the other draw subjects are not examined for that class.
DanskeGrundskoler.dk. (2026). "Exams in grades 8 and 9". Skoleviden. https://danskegrundskoler.dk/en/skoleviden/proever-i-8-og-9-klasse