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Under strict protective conditions and after a school year under pandemic conditions, the exams for the "Abi 2021" started on Friday in North Rhine-Westphalia.
For the first of the total of around 90,000 high school graduates, exams in English were due on the starting day.
During the exams, students were required to wear a medical mask.
This year, 79,000 students from grammar schools, comprehensive schools, Waldorf schools and advanced training colleges as well as 11,000 candidates at the vocational colleges are aiming for their school-leaving exams.
The high school graduates were only allowed to enter their school if they had previously participated in the school's corona self-test with a negative result or if they had a negative citizen test that was no more than 48 hours old.
Those who did not have the required corona test had to write the exam in a separate room.
Unfair Abitur conditions
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The central Abitur 2021 is unfair, criticized the state student council (LSV) at the beginning of the examination.
The starting position is very unequal among the students, said Johanna Börgermann from the board of directors.
You hope that there will be no significant drop in performance.
"But it wouldn't be surprising if you didn't learn content in the pandemic, but you can still find out about it in the exams."
Many students have come to schools in the last few days despite worries about infection in order to have the best possible starting point for exams, reported SLV board member Thomas Niebuer.
"Because there was no entitlement to alternative distance learning."
Stress, pressure and nervousness
The exams run until May 5th, the oral exams take place from May 7th.
The Ministry of Education emphasized that the prerequisites for fair exams and a full, nationwide comparable Abitur existed despite the adverse circumstances.
Stress, pressure and nervousness are particularly great this year, according to the Philologists Association.
Carrying out the Abi exams in North Rhine-Westphalia - as in all other federal states - is correct. The Philologists' Association fear that the conditions for the coming year 2022 will be "even more extreme".