Jordan Tawjihi

Overview

Tawjihi, formally the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, is Jordan's national school-leaving examination, run by the Ministry of Education at the end of upper secondary schooling (Grade 12). Passing it earns the secondary leaving certificate, and a graduate's Tawjihi average, together with the stream in which it was earned, is what Jordanian universities use to decide which degree programmes that graduate can apply for. Starting with the 2024–2025 academic year, the Ministry restructured Tawjihi into a two-year programme spanning Grade 11 and Grade 12, with students choosing an academic or a vocational pathway; the older stream names (Scientific, Literary, Sharia, and the separate vocational branches) remain in everyday use and still describe the subject groupings students pick from.

Who can apply

Tawjihi is sat by students completing Grade 12 in a Jordanian secondary school, whether public, private, or home-schooled through private study. Candidates choose one of two broad pathways, each split into streams:

• Academic pathway — Scientific (ilmi), Literary (adabi), and Sharia streams.

• Vocational pathway — industrial, commercial/business, nursing and health, hotel and hospitality, and agricultural streams, each built around a specific trade curriculum.

Regular school students receive their registration forms through their school. Candidates studying privately (not enrolled at a school) register in person at their local Directorate of Education, except candidates still working through an older study plan who have not yet passed or want to improve a grade, who register electronically through exams.moe.gov.jo. Jordanian students living abroad register through Jordanian embassies or cultural attaches. Non-Jordanian candidates complete an additional in-person step at the Examinations Department of the relevant Directorate of Education.

Exam pattern

Every subject is marked out of 100. The final Tawjihi average combines a common Grade 11 result with a stream-specific Grade 12 result.

Grade 12 specialization subjects depend on the stream:

• Scientific stream — Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, with the combination a student sits depending on whether they are aiming at a medical/health, engineering or general science path.

• Literary stream — core Arabic-language and humanities subjects plus electives such as Geography, Islamic Sciences, Sociology, Economics or French.

• Sharia stream — Islamic jurisprudence and Quranic-studies subjects alongside Arabic-language and humanities electives.

• Vocational streams (industrial, commercial, nursing and health, hotel and hospitality, agricultural) — a trade-specific technical and practical curriculum for the chosen branch, examined alongside the Grade 11 common subjects.

Marking and results

A candidate needs a score of 50 out of 100 or higher in every examined subject. Scoring below 50 in even one subject fails that subject, and the certificate is withheld until it is passed in a later sitting. The overall Tawjihi average is the weighted combination of the Grade 11 common subjects (about 30%) and the Grade 12 specialization subjects (about 70%), expressed as a percentage. Students who fail one or more subjects, or who want to improve a result, can resit those subjects in the next supplementary (winter) exam session rather than repeating the whole year.

Important dates

For the 2026 cycle, the Ministry of Education opened registration for the main (summer) session on 9 March 2026, running to 29 March 2026, with a two-day final extension on 1–2 April 2026. The Grade 12 summer exams ran from 25 June to 18 July 2026, held in two daily sessions (morning and afternoon), with the morning session starting at 10:00 am. A separate Grade 11 sitting for common subjects followed from 23 to 30 July 2026. Results are published on the Ministry's tawjihi.jo portal once marking is complete.

Jordan also runs a supplementary ("winter") session each year for candidates who failed a subject or want to improve a grade. In the 2025–2026 cycle, registration for this session ran from 13 to 23 October 2025, with results announced in early February 2026. Exact dates are republished by the Ministry each year and should be confirmed on tawjihi.jo or exams.moe.gov.jo.

How to apply

1. Watch for the Ministry's registration announcement (regular school students are notified through their school; private-study and overseas candidates should check exams.moe.gov.jo or their nearest Jordanian embassy).

2. Collect or submit the registration form within the announced window — through the school for regular students, or in person at the local Directorate of Education for private-study candidates.

3. Pay the exam fee during the registration period through the eFAWATEERcom payment system.

4. Non-Jordanian candidates additionally visit the Examinations Department of the relevant Directorate of Education with two recent passport-style photographs and identification.

5. After registering, check the assigned seating number and exam hall on exams.moe.gov.jo using the national identification number and date of birth.

After the exam

Results are published on the Ministry's tawjihi.jo portal. Graduates then apply to Jordan's public universities through the national Unified Admission system, coordinated by the Admission and Registration Unit (admhec.gov.jo), which ranks applicants by Tawjihi average, stream, and stated programme preferences. For the 2025 cycle, a Tawjihi average of 65% or above was the minimum needed to apply to a public university through Unified Admission; competitive programmes set much higher cutoffs within that pool — medicine places, for example, required averages close to the maximum attainable score. Each stream is linked to a set of eligible faculties: Scientific-stream graduates can generally apply to science, medical, and engineering faculties, while Literary- and Sharia-stream graduates apply to faculties such as arts, law, Sharia, humanities, and administrative and economic sciences. Private universities and some specializations also run their own additional entrance requirements alongside the Tawjihi average.

Preparation tips

• Decide on an academic or vocational pathway, and the specific stream within it, as early as possible, since it fixes which Grade 12 subjects are examined and which university faculties later become eligible.

• Keep Grade 11 common-subject marks (Arabic, English, Jordanian history, Islamic education) as strong as possible, since they already make up about 30% of the final average before Grade 12 even starts.

• Work through the Ministry's past Tawjihi papers for each chosen subject; question styles and format repeat from year to year.

• Track the Ministry's registration and exam-schedule announcements on tawjihi.jo and exams.moe.gov.jo each year, since missing the registration window means waiting for the next session.

• If a competitive university programme is the goal, research that programme's recent admission cutoff through the Unified Admission system rather than assuming the general 65% minimum is enough.

FAQs