In the 2023/2024 academic year, teachers awarded a total of 39,558 top grades across various subjects, as per an analysis of internal assessments of 11th and 12th-grade students from scientific-humanistic courses.
An analysis based on data provided by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) revealed that all schools awarded at least one student with the highest mark in some subject. Notably, the 19 schools with the most “20” grades were all located in the north of the country, with five of these schools seeing this grade awarded over 500 times.
For the second consecutive year, Escola Secundária Alves Martins in Viseu topped the rankings, having awarded 624 “20” grades to students. Following closely were the secondary schools in Amarante (545), Penafiel (545), Alberto Sampaio (506), and Carlos Amarante (504), both located in Braga.
At these five schools, the average internal grades of students hovered around 15 on a scale from zero to 20, marking a difference of two to four points below their exam results.
Nationally, female students achieved better outcomes with 22,869 “20” grades awarded, accounting for 58% of the total, while male students received 16,689 maximum grades.
The statistics further indicated a challenge for financially disadvantaged students, as only 20% of students receiving at least one “20” benefit from School Social Assistance (ASE).
Concerning individual subjects, Physical Education recorded the highest number of top grades, with teachers awarding 7,988 “20” grades last year, followed by IT Applications (5,333) and English (4,421).
Among main exam subjects, Mathematics A saw the highest number of students achieving the top score (2,595), significantly surpassing the scores in Portuguese (907), Physics and Chemistry (333), History A (282), or Biology and Geology (256).
The situation was similar in private education, where 6,818 top grades were awarded (52% to females and 48% to males), including 1,374 in Physical Education and 518 in Mathematics A.
Out of 98 schools reviewed, 88 awarded at least ten “20” grades, with the Externato Ribadouro (609) in Porto, the Colégio D. Diogo de Sousa (417) in Braga, the Colégio Nossa Senhora do Rosário (368) in Porto, the Colégio Oficinas de São José dos Salesianos de Lisboa (299), and the Colégio Paulo VI de Gondomar (288) standing out.
In these private institutions, the average internal grades of students ranged from 16.4 to 17.5, with results closer to those obtained in national exams, which were between 0.6 and 2.8 points lower than the grades given by teachers.
A report from the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics released in February highlighted that grades have been on the rise, with an increasing number of excellent students appearing in both public and private education sectors.
The report indicated that half of nearly 500 public institutions have students with average internal grades between 19 and 20 in at least one subject. In contrast, among 100 private educational institutions studied, 86 reported average internal grades between 19 and 20 in at least one subject.
