Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, qualifying the student for admission to

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

in 1630. The University of Copenhagen was the only university of Denmark-Norway until The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was founded in 1811. In Norway, examen artium was formally discontinued after the 1982 class (but the term is still sometimes used informally to denote the diploma from today's " videregående skole").

Norway

Typically after their tenth and final year of compulsory

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

education, students applied for admission to a three-year programs of studies, called "lines" at schools called ''gymnas'' within their

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. The curricula for the lines included a core of general studies topics, including Norwegian,

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, English, physical education, and one natural science subject. The curricula of the individual lines emphasized particular subjects. Examples include: *

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, with an emphasis on classical languages and works * ''Realfag'', with an emphasis on mathematics and physics * English, with an emphasis on English and French language and literature *

Natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, with an emphasis on mathematics, biology, and chemistry Students's final grades were based on the grading of their classroom work and the grades achieved at standardized examinations. Such examinations were either written for core and emphasized subjects, or oral for all subjects. Written examinations were mandatory for

bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is one of the official written standards for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is by far the most used written form of Norwegian today, as it is adopted by 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. There is no cou ...

nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

, and English final essay, and at least two other subjects. Oral examinations were given by drawing lot. In principle, examen artium gave students eligibility to matriculate in Norwegian and foreign universities. However, some programs would limit eligibility to certain lines as well as academic performance within these lines. For example, Norwegian medical and engineering programs would only consider applications from ''realfag'' and natural sciences.

References

{{reflist Education in Denmark Education in Norway School qualifications