Preparatory schools like Lern-Forum are alarmed: Many secondary school students today have significant gaps in their knowledge, particularly in math secondary level 1 and French.

This is particularly problematic because school grades in math and French, along with grades in German, English, and Nature & Technology, account for 50 percent of the overall grade on the short-term grammar school entrance exam. School grades in these five subjects therefore play a significant role in passing the grammar school entrance exam.

In the following article, we address the current challenges in preparing secondary school students for the short-term grammar school entrance exam and briefly explain the core mission of secondary schools regarding the teaching of the necessary curriculum to qualify for admission to the short-term grammar school.

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The most important points in brief:

Many secondary school students have significant gaps in their French vocabulary and are struggling even with the basics of the math secondary level 1 curriculum.
The affected secondary school students need to practice more French vocabulary and receive immediate remedial instruction in the math secondary level 1 curriculum.
The secondary school must fulfill its fundamental mission, which is to prepare secondary students for vocational training or general education schools (including grammar schools).
The ZAP results from the 2025/2026 school year also point to shortcomings in the education of secondary school students: the pass rate for the FMS exam dropped by nearly 5 percentage points, and for the BMS exams (BM1 and BM2) by nearly 7 percentage points each.

Table of contents

Deficiencies in math secondary level 1 and French vocabulary
The core mission of secondary schools
Conclusion

Deficiencies in math secondary level 1 and French vocabulary

The Lern-Forum exam preparation institute offers preparatory courses for the short-term grammar school program, starting as early as the first year of secondary school. Course participants receive support in German, English, French, and mathematics. But secondary school students’ knowledge has never been as poor as it is in 2026.

Many secondary school students have massive gaps in their knowledge and struggle to understand the school material. And this starts with the absolute basics—the very fundamentals that one would expect to be taught in secondary school.

In German and English, the vast majority of students can still keep up during secondary school. However, essay writing instruction is neglected by secondary schools. But this is a well-known gap in secondary school education that can be effectively addressed in preparatory courses—such as those offered by the Lern-Forum.

The situation in French is problematic. In this subject, a large number of students practice vocabulary far too little, which keeps their vocabulary at a dramatically low level. Secondary schools need to exercise greater oversight in this area to ensure that secondary school students do not fall behind in vocabulary training.

The situation is particularly dramatic when it comes to the math secondary level 1 curriculum. Here, many students are making far too little progress in school. The biggest problem: these students lack even the most basic knowledge. It is therefore only understandable that they can no longer keep up as math instruction progresses. Here, too, secondary schools must take urgent action and identify early on which students have not yet grasped the math basics. These students must then receive immediate remedial instruction so they do not fall behind.

In the preliminary course for 1st year of secondary school we eliminate knowledge gaps

The core mission of secondary schools

If secondary schools are unable to teach the curriculum to many secondary school students as early as the first year of secondary school, there is reason to fear that they are failing to fulfill their fundamental mission.

According to Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the 2007 Intercantonal Agreement on the Harmonization of Compulsory Education (HarmoS Concordat), secondary schools must provide students with the basic education necessary to gain access to vocational training and general education schools (including grammar schools).

And it is precisely this basic education that at least some secondary schools in the Canton of Zurich are currently failing to provide to many students at the secondary level 1.

Read also our article “Preparation for gymnasium exam necessary for passing”.

Conclusion

The affected secondary schools in the canton of Zurich must urgently make improvements and pay closer attention to ensuring that secondary school students keep up with the curriculum—and they must do so from the very beginning.

For students who are already lacking the basics in math secondary level 1 and French vocabulary, even exam preparation institutes can hardly help. There is often simply not enough time when the prep institutes have to start almost from scratch in imparting knowledge and understanding.

The fact that the performance level of secondary school students has declined is also evident from the ZAP results for the 2025/2026 school year. In the FMS exam, the pass rate dropped by nearly 5 percentage points compared to the previous year, and in the BMS exams (BM1 and BM2), the drop was nearly 7 percentage points in each case.