On December 3, more than three thousand Irkutsk eleventh graders wrote the final essay in 70 city schools. They were offered five topics, from love in Lermontovs works to the role of parental guidance and mutual understanding, and had 3 hours 55 minutes to work. Checking will finish within three days, and the result will be only one, passed or failed.

On December 3, more than three thousand 11th-grade students wrote the final essay in 70 schools in the city of Irkutsk. This was reported by the Education Department of the Irkutsk city administration.
Students were offered five topics to choose from: “What is the happiness and drama of love? (Based on one or several works by M.Yu. Lermontov)”, “What experience does war give a person?”, “How does nature help us understand the world of human feelings?”, “The role of parental guidance in a person’s life”, “What is mutual understanding?”.
Students were given 3 hours and 55 minutes to complete the written work. They were allowed to use only spelling dictionaries.
14 students with disabilities wrote a final summary instead of an essay. They were allowed to use spelling and explanatory dictionaries.
Written works will be checked by experts from the municipal subject commission within three days. Students will be able to review the results at their school within two working days from the end of the checking. No grades will be given for the essay, only “pass” or “fail”. To receive a positive result, the works must meet at least three of the five criteria, with the first two being mandatory: relevance to the topic, argumentation and use of literary material, composition and logic of reasoning, quality of written speech, literacy.
The final essay (summary) can be retaken on the following dates: February 4, 2015 and May 6, 2015.
As a reminder, the essay (summary) has become a mandatory test and admission requirement for the state final certification for students who have completed secondary general education programs in the current academic year.
Based on materials from the Irkutsk city administration press service.