High school students sit for main-period unified state exam

The main stage in taking the unified state exam today began in Tatarstan, as well as elsewhere in Russia. Graduates are being examined in the first three subjects of their choice, history, computer science and information and communication technologies, and biology.
The first compulsory examination, the Russian language, is scheduled for 31 May, while that in mathematics will be sat for on 7 June.
The main period is between 28 May and 21 June, in which time the 2012 graduates, as well as nationals with a secondary education received in other states, sit for exams.
A total of 64 examination stations were today opened in Tatarstan. A total of 1,361 people sit for a computer science and information and communication technologies exam, 2,868 test their knowledge in history, while 3,643 do so in biology, Tatarstan Education Ministry department of quality of education chief Lilia Amirova told journalists.
“The main stage of sitting for the USE, held among 880 thousand Russian school graduates, commenced today. About 22 thousand of them are from Tatarstan,” L. Amirova noted. “The legal framework and organisation of the USE has year to year been improving. In particular, a federal law on amendments related to the rules of admitting privileged school graduates to higher educational institutions took effect on 1 February.”
In sitting for the exam, she went on to say, examinees are not allowed to use or even carry a cellular phone. Besides, the content of the paper is confidential and is not to be disclosed.
“If a pupil photographs it and publishes on the web, it is a violation of the USE rules. If an official does the same, the fine will be 20 to 40 thousand roubles. The fine for USE participants is 3 to 5 thousand roubles,” she said.
“An examinee may for breaking the USE rules be removed from the classroom, their result annulled and it would then be up to the State Examination Commission to decide whether they are entitled for taking the exam again.”