Using old grammar school exams from Zurich for practice is the best learning aid for preparing for grammar school.
In the following article, we give 5 reasons why old grammar school exams from the canton of Zurich are ideal for preparing for the grammar school entrance exam. Firstly, we show you where you can find the old Gymi exams from Zurich in the archive.
In addition, attend a grammar school preparation course!
Table of contents
- Old Gymnasium exams Zurich in the archive
- 5 reasons to take old Gymi exams to practise
- Conclusion on Gymnasium preparation with old exams
Old Gymnasium exams Zurich in the archive
If you want to go to grammar school in the canton of Zurich, you have to pass the grammar school examination, either the ‘examination for a long grammar school’ at the end of primary school or the ‘examination for a short grammar school’ in secondary school.
You can find the old grammar school entrance exams in Zurich in various archives on the Internet, including the old Zurich grammar school exams archive of the Lern-Forum. In this archive, the old gymnasium exams from Zurich from 2014 to 2024 are available for download. In addition to the tasks, you can also download the solutions, both for the long-term grammar school and the short-term grammar school.
Specifically, you can find the following old exam tasks and old grammar school exam solutions in the grammar school exam archive:
- Mathematics tasks
- Mathematics solutions
- German language exam text sheet
- German language exam tasks
- German language exam solutions
- German essay topics
- Complete grammar school exam
Grammar School Exam Archive from Lern-Forum: old entrance exams for grammar school (ZAP-Archive)
5 reasons to take old Gymi exams to practise
Here are five reasons why practising with old Gymnasium exams is the best way to study for the Zurich entrance exam.
Test your knowledge
Practising for the Gymnasium exam in Zurich with old exams helps to test your knowledge. This is because the old Gymnasium exams contain exactly the same topics that will be tested in future exams. If the student has not understood a certain task or does not know the solution when practising with an old Gymnasium exam, this is feedback for them that they need to go through the exam topic again.
The student can, for example, try to solve the problem using their school documents, i.e. with the help of the material taught by the teacher in relation to this topic. If the student does not get any further with the documents, they can also go directly to the teacher and ask them to explain the solution to the task.
Practise the type of tasks
One of the most important reasons why you need to prepare for the Gymi exam in the first place is the type of tasks in the central entrance exam (ZAP) for the Gymnasium, which are not practised in regular primary school lessons, for example.
Here too, the old Gymnasium exams from Zurich are therefore ideal for familiarising yourself with the type of tasks, the level of difficulty and the questions. This is because the tasks in German and maths are basically always the same. Only the text and the numbers change. Once the student has understood the tasks in the old ZAP exams, they can also apply their knowledge to the tasks in the future grammar school exams.
Please also read our article ‘Preparation for Gymi exams necessary for passing’.
Practise exam strategies
The old Gymnasium exams can also be used to learn strategies for solving text comprehension tasks in German. Instead of leaving a task unfinished because you don't know the solution or don't have time to work on it, it's still better to guess an answer. And you can practise this with the old Gymi exams. Over time, you will know how to avoid blank lines by skilful guessing. However, this guessing strategy should only be used if the task does not state that incorrect answers will result in points being deducted.
This is because, as the Administrative Court of the Canton of Zurich has ruled, pupils do not have to assume that incorrect answers will lead to minus points (malus points), unless the pupils are informed in the task that incorrect answers will lead to points being deducted. Although the court is talking about primary school pupils here, it is not clear why this should not also apply to secondary school pupils.
It is therefore necessary to read the task carefully to see whether it states that points will be deducted for incorrect answers. For example, there are tasks that state: ‘Incorrectly placed crosses will result in a deduction.’ If the task announces such a deduction for incorrect answers, you should refrain from using the guessing strategy.
Essay training
With regard to essay writing, you can use the many old Gymi exams to gradually train yourself to recognise the right type of essay - i.e. the right type of text. One exercise consists of focussing on a particular type of essay and then assigning the appropriate topics from the old grammar school exams.
You can then gradually write the essays assigned in this way and have them corrected using the Lern-Forum essay tool, which was specially developed for practising essays (essay training). In this way, the student receives detailed feedback with suggestions for improvement that they can implement in their next essay. Once you have practised one type of essay, you focus on the next type of essay and start all over again: assigning topics from the old Gymnasium exams, writing essays, having essays corrected.
The Lern-Forum also offers special essay courses for essay training.
Presentation and comprehension training
By practising the same tasks two to three times at intervals of 2 to 3 weeks, students can practise time management, improve their understanding of the tasks and consolidate the learning material as well as practising the presentation of solutions, especially in maths.
However, repeated practice of the same German exams every 2 to 3 weeks is also recommended in order to practise time management, improve understanding of the tasks, consolidate the learning material and become more experienced in solving the tasks.
In addition, successfully solving old Gymnasium exams serves to strengthen the respective student's self-confidence.
Conclusion on Gymnasium preparation with old exams
All in all, one of the most important realisations with regard to Gymnasium preparation is that learning is a process. And practising with the old Gymnasium exams from Zurich makes a very important contribution to this learning process. You can also read our following blog articles on the subject of learning:
- ‘What is the best way to learn?’
- ‘Preparation for Gymnasium entrance exam: a guide with top strategies’
- ‘Tips for parents to support their child during the exam phase’
- ‘Long-Term Planning for Gymnasium Preparation: How Parents Can Support Their Children Early’
- ‘Milestones - many paths lead to grammar school’
Zurich grammar school exam archive with old grammar school entrance exams
Sources:
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/gymnasium-preparation-zurich/exam-archive/gymipruefung-archive
https://www.lern-forum.ch/blog/vorbereitung-fuer-gymipruefung-noetig-fuer-bestehen
https://entscheidsuche.ch/docs/ZH_Verwaltungsgericht/ZH_VG_001_-VB-2020-00565_18- 11-2020.html
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/e-learning/essay-training
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/blog/learning-types
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/blog/gymi-exam-preparation-guide-with-top-strategies
https://www.lern-forum.ch/blog/pruefungsphase-tipps-eltern-kind-pruefungszeit
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/blog/does-my-child-need-supplementary-courses-1
https://www.lern-forum.ch/blog/viele-wege-fuehren-ins-gymnasium
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/gymnasium-preparation-zurich/long-term-gymnasium/registration
https://www.lern-forum.ch/en/gymnasium-preparation-zurich/short-term-gymnasium/registration
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