Important
The Ujian Nasional (UN) is no longer held. The 2020 sitting was cancelled because of COVID-19, and the exam was formally abolished by Ministry of Education Circular Letter No. 1 of 2021, signed on 1 February 2021. It was replaced by the Asesmen Nasional, a school-level assessment that does not decide graduation. Since the 2025/2026 school year, the individual national test is the Tes Kemampuan Akademik (TKA), which is optional. Prepare for TKA, not UN.
Overview
The Ujian Nasional (UN, National Examination) was Indonesia's standardised national exam at the end of primary, junior secondary and senior secondary school. It ran from 2005 until the cancelled 2020 sitting, following the earlier Ebtanas (1980 to 2002) and Ujian Akhir Nasional (2003 to 2004).
At first UN scores decided whether a pupil graduated. From around 2015 that role passed to schools, which set their own passing standards.
President Joko Widodo cancelled the 2020 UN because of the pandemic, and Minister Nadiem Makarim, who had announced in 2019 that UN would end, then abolished it. The ministry's own pages could not be read for this file, so the details below come from news reports and Wikipedia and describe the exam as it was.
Exam pattern
UN was set by subject for each school level:
| Level | Subjects |
|---|---|
| SD/MI (primary) | Bahasa Indonesia, Mathematics, Science |
| SMP/MTs (junior secondary) | Bahasa Indonesia, English, Mathematics, Science |
| SMA/MA (senior secondary) | Bahasa Indonesia, English, Mathematics, plus subjects for the pupil's stream (natural sciences, social sciences or languages) |
| SMK/MAK (vocational) | Bahasa Indonesia, English, Mathematics, vocational theory |
The exam was first taken on paper (UNKP, Ujian Nasional Kertas Pensil). A computer-based version (UNBK, Ujian Nasional Berbasis Komputer) was piloted from 2013 to reduce cheating and improve accuracy, and rolled out more widely from 2015 to 2016.
What replaced it
Asesmen Nasional (from 2021). It has three parts: a minimum competency assessment (literacy and numeracy), a character survey and a learning environment survey. It assesses schools rather than individual pupils and does not decide graduation.
Tes Kemampuan Akademik (TKA, from 2025/2026). TKA is a national end-of-level test set under Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Regulation No. 9 of 2025. The first SMA sitting was held in November 2025. It is optional and does not decide graduation, which stays with the school. Pupils who take it get a TKA results certificate, which can be used when applying to the next level, including the merit route into universities.
Is the Ujian Nasional still held?
No. The 2020 sitting was cancelled and UN was formally abolished in February 2021. Schools are now assessed through the Asesmen Nasional, and individual pupils can take the optional Tes Kemampuan Akademik (TKA).
Is TKA the same as the old UN?
No. Both are national tests, but TKA is optional and does not decide whether a pupil graduates. UN was taken by every pupil at the end of each school level.