How to prepare for the érettségi with your class notes

The érettségi is the Hungarian school-leaving exam at the end of secondary school, and its results count for university admission. It is a big exam, but it is also a predictable one: what it asks for is written down in official requirements, and years of past papers are public. Your class notes from the last years already cover most of it. The work is to connect the two.

This guide is a plan for doing that. The rules change from time to time, so always check the current year's details on the Oktatási Hivatal's érettségi pages.

Know the shape of the exam

A few basics decide how you prepare:

• Subjects. Hungarian language and literature, mathematics, history and a foreign language are compulsory, and you choose at least one more subject.
• Levels. Each subject can be taken at intermediate level (középszint) or advanced level (emelt szint). Universities may ask for advanced level in the subjects their programmes count.
• Parts. Most subjects have a written part and an oral part, though not every subject and level has both. Check yours.
• Sessions. The main session is in spring: the written exams are in May and the orals follow in June. There is also an autumn session.

Write down your subjects, their levels and which parts each has. That is the frame for everything else.

Start from the official requirements

The detailed exam requirements (részletes vizsgakövetelmények) list, subject by subject and level by level, what you are expected to know and do. They are the most useful document you can have, and few students read them properly.

For each subject:

1. Go through the requirements and list the topics, one line each.
2. Next to each topic, note which of your class notes covers it.
3. Mark the topics with no note, or with a weak one. Those are your gaps.

This topic map turns a vague "I have to revise history" into a concrete list, and it shows you early where you need to catch up.

Build one note per topic

Class notes follow the order of the lessons, but the exam follows the order of the topics. Where a topic was spread over several classes, bring those notes together into one note per topic, with:

• the key facts, dates, definitions and formulas,
• the connections the exam asks for, such as causes and effects in history or the context of a work in literature,
• one or two examples you can use in an answer.

Prepare for the oral topics

For many subjects, the oral exam is built on a list of topics (tételek). At intermediate level your school usually publishes the list, so ask your teachers which one applies to you. Make one note per tétel and practice saying each answer out loud, with a timer. Speaking is a different skill from writing, and the only way to get better at it is to do it.

Practice with past papers

The Oktatási Hivatal publishes past written papers with their marking guides (javítási-értékelési útmutató). Use them in three ways:

• Early on, to see what kinds of tasks come up and how they are worded.
• In the middle, to test one part of the exam at a time.
• Near the end, as full papers under exam time, marked strictly with the guide.

The marking guide shows how points are given, which is often a surprise: structure, terms and reasoning all count, not only the final answer.

A timeline that works

• Autumn of the final year: subjects and levels decided, topic map made, gaps marked.
• Winter: one note per topic, the gaps filled, regular short practice with flashcards.
• Early spring: past papers part by part, oral topics prepared.
• The last weeks: full papers under time, oral answers out loud, review of your weak topics only.

Using ClamNotes for the érettségi

ClamNotes has an exam mode for the érettségi. Turn on Exam mode in Settings, under School-leaving exam, and choose Hungary as the country. Each note then shows what the exam asks for: the points the requirements cover get a star, and the note adds a "For the exam" section. It follows the official exam requirements of the subject.

That helps in both directions. New class notes come out already marked for the exam, and when you make a study set from a topic's notes with Study (Pro), you get one test-focused note with flashcards, a quiz and a practice test for that topic.

Two things to keep in mind. ClamNotes is for users aged 18 and over. And AI can make mistakes, so check the notes against your textbook and the official requirements, especially for the facts you plan to use in an answer.

A short checklist

• Subjects, levels and parts written down.
• The current requirements read, a topic map made.
• One note per topic and per oral tétel.
• Past papers done under time and marked with the guide.
• The last weeks spent on your weak topics, not on what you already know.