The Finnish Matriculation Exam in History : Are the exam tasks and assessment criteria aligned with curriculum aims?

This chapter discusses the Finnish matriculation exam in history with a particular focus on the period from spring 2023 to the present. The exam is analyzed in terms of its congruence with the aims of history teaching in the core curriculum for upper secondary education, the tasks set in the exam questions, and the criteria for assessing students’ essays. The chapter also discusses the limitations of the history matriculation exam format in assessing students’ skills in acquiring and applying historical knowledge, as well as the challenge of writing assessment criteria at the optimal level of detail. The chapter also discusses the author’s experiences in the process of constructing the exam.