Current knowledge: graduates did an excellent job with the tasks of the Unified State Exam on their

The graduates showed good knowledge of the events and dates of the special operation on the Unified State Exam in history, Rosobrnadzor reported. Eleventh graders find their assignments easier than questions about other historical events. According to experts, when preparing for their assignments, it is enough for students to be on the news agenda. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Excellent results

The eleventh-graders did an excellent job with the tasks of knowing the chronology and historical facts of the special military operation (SVO), follows from the presentation of Rosobrnadzor, published on the Telegram channel of the department. Graduates showed high results on the Unified State Exam in history. Izvestia sent a request to Rosobrnadzor, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

At the same time, this year the number of graduates who passed the state exam in the subject increased from 74 thousand to 83 thousand in comparison with 2024. The average test score of the eleventh graders increased slightly from 55.4 to 55.85. And the number of those who wrote the exam for 60-100 points increased by 4.5 thousand, to 33 thousand people.

For the first time, assignments about military education appeared in the Unified State Exam in history in 2024, when new textbooks with a chapter on a special military operation were delivered to schools.

Tasks about the SVO on the Unified State Exam

CBO assignments are found only in the first test part. Izvestia did not find any questions in the assignments with detailed answers, including those where it is required to write a historical essay and express one's opinion. Experts also confirm this.

— The history exam uses only factual material, for example, specific names of characters, specific events. There are no evaluative judgments about the SVR in the exam," explains Anton Vasilenko, a history tutor who previously worked as a teacher at the school.

In the open bank of FIPI tasks, among the questions about SVR is, for example, the establishment of a correspondence "between processes (phenomena, events) and facts related to these processes." The processes indicate a special military operation, and the fact suitable for it is the signing of an agreement on the entry of the LPR into Russia.

FIPI issues recommendations for preparing for the Unified State Exam. The file contains important dates, events, and names that may occur during the exam. According to the CBO, only three dates are indicated: 2014, the agreement on the admission of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia, February 24, 2022, the beginning of a special military operation, and September 30, 2022, the signing of agreements on the admission of the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions to Russia. There are 16 names in the document, these are the heroes of the special operation. Among them, for example, Vladimir Zhoga, Damir Gilemkhanov, Ivan Tsevun, Olga Kachura.

Events and processes include:

— the coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 and Russia's position;

— reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia and its international consequences;

— The Minsk agreements on Donbass and humanitarian support for the DPR and LPR;

— special military operation in Ukraine;

— The introduction of political and economic sanctions against Russia by the United States and its allies and their consequences.

Reasons for correct answers

There are several reasons why graduates do well on their knowledge testing assignments. One of them, according to experts, is the novelty of facts and surnames in comparison with phenomena and names even from the 20th century.

— The guys answer their questions correctly. The reason is simple. For example, the names of participants in a special military operation had not previously been studied in school. Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Menshikov are famous surnames. Children who have been preparing for history for several years know such personalities. And suddenly there is, say, a Bug. This is a new surname for schoolchildren. And of the global innovations in the Unified State Exam, only its own. So, the guys understand that such a surname should relate to a very specific topic," Olga, a school history teacher who has been preparing graduates for the Unified State Exam for several years, comments to Izvestia.

According to tutor Anton Vasilenko, many eleventh graders perform correlation tasks that mention their own, by the method of exclusion. Critical thinking helps the guys, says the historian. Sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or, for example, the events of the Petrine era hardly correlate with the year 2022.

For example, Vyacheslav Pleshkov, who took the Unified State Exam in history this year, told Izvestia that he answered questions about the special operation on a whim. According to the young man, there is nothing difficult in such tasks.

Another reason that graduates answer their questions correctly is the small number of facts and dates that may come across on the exam.

— I found the tasks about SVO easier than others, since there are very few components. It was necessary to learn the stories and names of 16 heroes of the special military operation, as well as the territories annexed to the Russian Federation during the military operation. For a person who follows the news stream and is aware of the latest events, these tasks will be very simple," said Anton Samorodov, who received 95 points for the Unified State Exam in history.

Elizaveta Yamanova, who scored 91 points, was initially scared when she saw the questions about her own during the preparation, because the topic is new. But after careful study, the girl realized that a special military operation in the state exam is one of the most understandable topics. According to Elizaveta, the tasks related to SVO are sometimes intuitive.

Questions about the 21st century seem easier than others, because these processes are taking place here and now, experts say.

— The guys live in this era, in this discourse and context. They hear about it, know it, and feel it. Moreover, fairly well-known events are being asked on the Unified State Exam. My students and I did not encounter any little-known events. But even if such phenomena had occurred, I think the guys would have coped with them. In addition, many schoolchildren have fathers, brothers, and uncles who serve in the military. Therefore, it concerns them directly. Students may not specifically learn dates and events about THEIR own. They have enough knowledge about the modern world," says Anton Vasilenko.

Sources of knowledge

However, many graduates still purposefully study questions on the topic of their own.

— The Unified State Exam is compiled on the basis of FIPI materials, so something outside their pages is unlikely to be found, at least on this topic. Therefore, reading a textbook is the best preparation for this type of assignment, as the Unified State Exam is a fairly standardized exam. But a common outlook, which is formed in the process of studying online sources and everyday communication, can help in solving tasks, says Elizaveta Yamanova.

Since 2024, in all Russian schools, eleventh-graders have begun to study a history course based on new textbooks edited by Vladimir Medinsky, which include information about their own. So, in the textbook "The History of Russia. 1945 — the beginning of the 21st century" one 19-page paragraph is devoted to a special military operation. In particular, it tells about our country's current relations with the West, pressure on Russia from the United States, Ukrainian neo-Nazism, the 2014 coup in Ukraine and the return of Crimea, the Minsk agreements, and the attitude of Russian society towards a special military operation. In June 2025, Russian Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov called for the liberation of the Kursk Region from the Armed Forces of Ukraine to be included in history textbooks.

— We study a special military operation in history lessons, the events of its events are well described in the textbook of Medinsky. Homeroom teachers also discuss their own events in the "Conversations about important" lessons. We invite the participants of the special military operation, parents, to school events. Of course, high school students also watch social media, ask questions, and we discuss. This topic is relevant, so students understand it better than other historical events," Larisa Sedova, a history teacher, tells Izvestia.

Olga, a history teacher, prepares students based on textbooks edited by Medinsky and electronic resources, such as military historical journals.

However, Anton Vasilenko believes that the textbook does not play a primary role in preparing for questions about its own. He believes that knowledge about a special military operation is based on the fact that the guys live in an up-to-date information field, read the news, and watch it on social networks.