Tawjihi Testing

There's nothing quite so fun as being woken up at 3am by the sound of teenagers cheering, fireworks firing, guns firing into the air and cars honking their horns.

This wasn't a national holiday or protest that caused the noise, but the results of the annual Tawjihi tests. Tawjihi is the general secondary examination in Jordan, and is given by the Ministry of Education annually. Students take the exam after the completing two years of junior high school.  

Exam is a standardized scale for measuring the efficiency of the Kingdom of education. 

To succeed in the Tawjihi test of the student should get more than 50% for each tested material. Upon succeeding, student receives a certificate of high school, and this is the first certificate earned by the student in his school.

It's difficult to find a job without a high school degree. When you get a job, the person who owns a Tawjihi certificate receives a good salary.

Tawjihi Examination tests the ability of the student to enroll in graduate studies such as colleges and universities. It is also decided by the university, which course will be joined by the student what the test results allow him to specialize in. You cannot belong to the university without Tawjihi certificate.

Many parents help their kids prepare for these exams for months and are heavily invested in the outcome as these are the kids that need to take care of them someday. Somehow the ACT and SAT don't seem to hold the same weight as this test in this country does.