High school graduates tell their stories

Where Styrian graduates particularly shone

The Austria-wide central A-level results are in.

(Bild: EXPA/ Jakob Gruber)

With 26.6 percent "very good" in the AHS, Styria is the front runner in this year's German A-levels. Two exemplary graduates are Salome Klatt and Nikolaus Haslmayr - they went hand in hand through their eighth year at the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz. Footballer Joel Wasser shone at the Bundesgymnasium Oeversee - he is now hoping for a professional career.

In May, around 2900 Styrian school leavers wrote the central school-leaving exam - now the results are on the table. "I got all A's," says Nikolaus Haslmayr, a graduate of the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz. He is not alone in this, especially in German: Nowhere else in Austria were so many "very good" grades achieved in the written A-levels as in Styria.

Central Matura in Styria

• 26.6 percent of AHS graduates achieved a "very good" in German , making Styria a pioneer. The figure for BHS was 17.6 percent.
• English results: 26.7 percent (AHS) and 22.2 percent (BHS) achieved a "very good".
• Mathematics results: 18.5 percent (AHS) and 15.3 percent (BHS).

"German was quite easy for everyone," says Nikolaus. So did his friend Salome Klatt from the next class, who also excelled in the final exam. "In German, I chose opinion speech and summary, both of which are easy to write," she says. The oral German exam was much more difficult for her - especially because of the literary history.

Salome Klatt and Nikolaus Haslmayr graduated with top grades from the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz.

(Bild: Ripix/Ballguide)

The 19-year-old Joel Wasser also graduated with an A in German. He came to Graz from Switzerland just two years ago and started his soccer career here. He attended the Bundesgymnasium Oeversee, "which is really cool for athletes", as he says. For example, he had to draw up a training plan and provide definitions of the terms "strength" and "speed" for the written Matura in sports science.

Footballer Joel Wasser graduated from the Oeversee grammar school in Graz.

(Bild: Joel Wasser)

"I already had good grades in my annual report, but I was really nervous on graduation day," says Joel. He had spent four months studying for the math exam alone. In the end, there was great joy and relief: "Everyone who passed our eighth grade also passed the Matura."

I would like to congratulate all candidates on successfully completing the written Matura. It is particularly pleasing to see Styria on the podium in a comparison of the federal states.

Werner Amon, Bildungslandesrat (ÖVP)

Overall, it can be seen that young women scored better in German throughout Austria (eight percentage points more "very good"), while boys scored better in mathematics (six percentage points more "very good"). Coincidentally, this can also be seen in the pair of graduates from the Akademisches Gymnasium: while Nikolaus found the math Matura "extremely easy", Salome found it "relatively difficult". Both graduates of the humanistic grammar school competed in Ancient Greek. And Nikolaus even took an oral exam in Latin.

The future plans of the three graduates? Joel is about to do his military service in Switzerland, after which he wants to return to Graz to study sports science and further his soccer career. Nikolaus has other goals: "I'm doing my community service now and will then study law," he says. "And I'd like to study English and literature in Munich," says Salome. For now, however, the two of them are going on a school-leaving trip to Pula with their year group. "It starts on Sunday," says Salome full of anticipation.