Grammar school preparation prices: Grammar school preparation on a tight budget?

The prices for grammar school preparation can vary greatly depending on which grammar school preparation courses you attend. Grammar school preparation on a small budget is definitely possible.  

In the following article, we explain the options available for grammar school preparation on a small budget.    

Grammar school preparation in self-study saves time and money

Table of contents  

• Self-study courses with lower grammar school preparation prices
   
• Take shorter grammar school courses
   
• Grammar school preparation courses for individual subjects
   
• Intensive grammar school courses during the holidays
   
• Practise with old grammar school exams

Self-study courses with lower grammar school preparation prices

One way to benefit from lower grammar school preparation prices is to enrol in a self-study grammar school preparation course to prepare for the Langgymi or Kurzgymi exam. At Lern-Forum, such a self-study grammar school preparation course is several hundred francs cheaper than the shortest ‘normal’ grammar school preparation course (10 weekly sessions). Although the self-study grammar school course also lasts 3 months, it only takes place once a month.   

In the self-study grammar school preparation course – also known as the milestone course – participants receive teaching materials from Lern-Forum, which they work through independently at home. Once a month, highly qualified teachers check whether the student has achieved the required learning objective in a learning assessment test. In this way, any gaps in knowledge can be filled in good time and questions of understanding can be clarified directly.  

In addition, the self-study grammar school preparation course at Lern-Forum includes three essay corrections with comprehensive feedback and a mock exam. Participants also receive access to explanatory videos.

Besides the price advantage, self-study preparatory courses for grammar school have the advantage that pupils do not have to spend as much time attending face-to-face courses. This is particularly interesting for children who are very busy with other activities, such as musical or sporting hobbies.  

Self-study preparatory courses for grammar school

Take shorter grammar school courses

The Lern-Forum grammar school preparation institute offers grammar school courses of varying lengths. The ‘normal’ grammar school preparation courses last 10, 14, 16 and 18 weeks and prepare students for both long-term and short-term grammar school entrance exams.  

The shorter the grammar school course, the lower the grammar school preparation price. So if you only have a small budget, you can, for example, start preparing for grammar school completely on your own and then attend a 10-week grammar school preparation course, which is the cheapest ‘normal’ grammar school course.  

Search for short grammar school courses at Lern-Forum

Grammar school preparation courses for individual subjects

Another way to pay a slightly lower price for grammar school preparation is to attend a grammar school preparation course for only one subject, either mathematics or German. Or you can attend only an essay writing course.  

Those who specifically attend only one course, for example in mathematics, because they perform particularly poorly in that subject, usually save money compared to the combined course, which teaches mathematics, German and essay writing, which is why this combined course is also more expensive. Pure essay courses are usually even cheaper than grammar school preparation courses for mathematics or German. So if you are sure that you only need to practise essay writing, you can save even more money. However, you can also combine the essay course with an intensive grammar school course during the holidays if you still need support in German and/or maths, although there are also essay courses during the holidays.  

Find grammar school courses for ‘mathematics only’ and/or ‘German only’  

Book an essay writing course now

Intensive grammar school courses during the holidays

You can also save money by taking an intensive grammar school course during the holidays instead of a ‘normal’ grammar school preparation course during regular school hours. The one-week intensive grammar school courses during the holidays are particularly affordable. But even with the two-week intensive grammar school holiday courses, you can still save money compared to the cheapest ‘normal’ grammar school preparation course.   

Further advantages of intensive grammar school courses during the holidays are as follows:  

• Suitable for pupils who do not have time to attend a ‘normal’ grammar school preparation course during regular school hours outside of the holidays.
   
• Suitable for pupils who have started their grammar school preparation too late.  

Intensive grammar school courses during the holidays

Practise with old grammar school exams

Finally, there is the option of practising with old grammar school entrance exams to keep the cost of preparing for the exam as low as possible. Downloading old grammar school entrance exams from the canton of Zurich is free of charge, at least from the grammar school exam archive on the Lern-Forum website.  

In theory, this could reduce the cost of preparing for the grammar school entrance exam to zero, but this is not recommended. At the very least, you should have your practice essays professionally corrected during your grammar school preparation. However, since the tasks in the grammar school exam are different from those in regular lessons, you should not be too frugal if you notice that you are still having difficulties solving the old grammar school exams, and you should attend at least one intensive grammar school course during the holidays to resolve any comprehension problems.  

Old grammar school examinations in the grammar school examination archive for practice

Have mock essays professionally corrected

Ideally, however, preparation for grammar school should begin in the 4th year of primary school if you want to transfer to a long-term grammar school, or in the 1st year of secondary school if you want to transfer to a short-term grammar school. If you follow this advice, the costs for grammar school preparation will of course be correspondingly high.   

For an estimate of the costs of starting grammar school preparation early, read our article ‘Grammar school preparation costs: How much does gymnasium preparation cost?’.

Sources

• Grammar school preparation in self-study with learning control (milestone courses) (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Central entrance examination (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Gymnasium Preparation Zurich - Preparatory courses for every need (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Gymnasium preparation holiday courses (intensive courses) (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Essay training for Gymnasium preparation in Zurich and other ZAP exams (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Grammar School Exam Archive ZAP - High School Zurich (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Professional essay correction (last accessed: October 22, 2025)
   
• Grammar school preparation costs: How much does gymnasium preparation cost? (last accessed: October 22, 2025)