Eindexamen

Overview

The eindexamen (final examination) is the exam students in the Netherlands sit at the end of secondary school (voortgezet onderwijs) to earn their leaving diploma. It is overseen jointly by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the College voor Toetsen en Examens (CvTE, which sets the national written exams), and the Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO, which registers candidates and issues diplomas). There is no single eindexamen: students sit it at the end of one of three school types, each a different length and aimed at a different next step.

For every track, the final result for each subject combines two parts: the schoolexamen (school-set tests and assignments spread across the upper years) and, for most subjects, the centraal examen (a single national written exam set by the CvTE on the same day for every student of that track, school and subject combination).

Who can apply

Almost all students take the eindexamen as a regular pupil of a secondary school, registered for the exam by that school; there is no separate individual application for them. Students normally move into VWO, HAVO or VMBO after 8 years of primary school, based on their primary-school leaving advice, and sit the eindexamen of whichever track they end up completing.

A separate route, the staatsexamen, lets people obtain a VMBO, HAVO or VWO diploma without attending a licensed school. It is meant for students at private schools without an exam licence, and for people who prepare individually, such as adults returning to study, people living abroad, elite athletes, or people in long-term care or custody. Staatsexamen candidates sit the same centraal examen as school candidates, but a college-style oral/practical exam (college-examen) in place of the schoolexamen. For 2026, registration for the staatsexamen is handled by DUO, and candidates pay 144 euros per subject (71 euros for a subject assessed only by a college exam), capped at 720 euros per exam year.

Exam pattern

Every VWO and HAVO student chooses one of four profielen (subject profiles) after the first years of school, each built around a mandatory core plus profile and elective subjects:

Alongside the chosen profile, every HAVO and VWO student has a shared core of compulsory subjects (Dutch, English, a second foreign language on VWO, social studies, physical education, and a cultural/arts component), plus a profielwerkstuk (a supervised research project). Counting core, profile and elective subjects together, a HAVO or VWO student sits a final exam in at least seven subjects.

VMBO is organised differently: students choose one of four leerwegen (learning pathways), which differ in how much time goes to general subjects versus career-oriented (vocational) subjects:

For each subject, the schoolexamen grade is the school's own average of tests and assignments taken through the upper years, rounded to one decimal. The centraal examen grade is the mark on the single national written paper for that subject, also rounded to one decimal. For most subjects the final grade is the average of the two, rounded to a whole number; a small number of subjects are schoolexamen-only (no centraal examen) and get their final grade entirely from the school. On HAVO and VWO, a combinatiecijfer bundles the profielwerkstuk, maatschappijleer (social studies) and the arts component (CKV) into one combined final grade; on VMBO, the combinatiecijfer bundles the schoolexamen grades of the vocational elective subjects.

Marking and results

Every subject is graded on the Dutch 1-10 scale, where 10 is the highest and 6 is the normal minimum pass per subject; results are published as whole numbers, with the underlying schoolexamen and centraal examen components kept to one decimal until they are combined.

A student passes overall only if every final grade clears the slaag-zakregeling (pass/fail rule) for their track:

• VWO: the core subjects are Dutch, English and mathematics. At most one of these three may be a 5, and the rest must be a 6 or higher; a 4 or lower in any core subject is an automatic fail regardless of other grades.

• HAVO: the core subjects are Dutch and English, under the same at-most-one-5, no-4-or-lower rule.

• VMBO: Dutch must be at least a 5; if Dutch (or any one subject) is a 5, every other subject must be a 6 or higher, with no compensation allowed.

• Across all three tracks, the average of all centraal examen grades must be at least 5.5, and every student must have a final result for mathematics or, where mathematics is not part of their programme, a separate rekentoets (numeracy) result between 1 and 10 that does not itself count toward the pass/fail rule.

A student who falls outside these rules does not receive the diploma, but a certificate (cijferlijst) listing the subjects and grades actually achieved, and in some cases may retake one centraal examen subject in the second exam period.

Important dates

The CvTE publishes one national rooster (exam timetable) each year for all three tracks together. For the 2026 exams, the first period (eerste tijdvak) of written centraal examens runs from Friday 8 May 2026 to Wednesday 27 May 2026. A second period (tweede tijdvak), for students who were ill or want to resit one subject, runs from Tuesday 16 June 2026 to Tuesday 23 June 2026. The schoolexamen is spread across the final one to two years before that, on a timetable each school sets itself, and most schools publish results and organise a diploma ceremony in the first half of July.

How to apply

Regular school candidates do not apply separately for the eindexamen: their own secondary school registers them automatically once they are enrolled in the relevant exam year, and the school sets and communicates the schoolexamen schedule.

Staatsexamen (private) candidates register directly with DUO, choosing the subjects and, where relevant, the level (VMBO, HAVO or VWO) they want to be examined in, and pay the per-subject staatsexamen fee at registration.

After the exam

A VMBO diploma gives access to MBO vocational training at the level matching the leerweg completed, and a gemengde or theoretische leerweg diploma also gives access to HAVO. A HAVO diploma gives access to HBO (higher professional education) and, for some study programmes, to VWO's final years; the large majority of HAVO graduates go on to HBO. A VWO diploma gives direct access to university (WO) as well as HBO; the large majority of VWO graduates go on to university. Diplomas and the underlying exam results are recorded in DUO's central diploma register, which the institutions a graduate applies to can check directly.

Preparation tips

• Treat the schoolexamen seriously from the start of the exam years: because the final grade in most subjects is an average of the schoolexamen and the centraal examen, a weak schoolexamen average raises the centraal examen mark needed to pass that subject.

• Learn the exact slaag-zakregeling for your own track before the exam period, especially the core-subjects rule: a single low grade in Dutch, English or (on VWO) mathematics can fail the whole exam even when every other subject is strong.

• Practise with past centraal examens for your subjects and track; because the questions are the same nationwide for a given subject and level, previous years' papers closely match the style and difficulty to expect.

• Plan the profielwerkstuk (VWO/HAVO) or vocational elective work (VMBO) early, since it is assessed over an extended period and feeds into the combinatiecijfer alongside other subjects.