Gymivorbereitung
Zürich

In principle, our courses are carefully coordinated and can be easily combined with each other. Depending on the individual situation, different combinations are possible – we will be happy to advise you personally.

Example 1: Preparation courses in 5th and 6th grade
In order to identify and close individual gaps at an early stage, we recommend that some students start our preparation course already in 5th grade (May to summer). From September onwards, students from 6th grade can then attend the six-month course. The two courses are optimally coordinated. This ensures a sustainable Gymnasium preparation, and your child can prepare for the exams comprehensively and without rushing.

Example 2: Your child didn't pass the Gymnasium examination in 6th grade or 8th grade and needs to close gaps in 7/8th grade
Your child has not passed the Gymnasium entrance exam in 6th grade or 8th grade and wants to create optimal conditions for the short-term Gymnasium exam in 8/9th grade. In this case, we recommend starting the preparation early in our preliminary course for 7/8th grade (May to July), so that your child can create a sustainable foundation for the subsequent Gymnasium preparation course in the 8/9th grade (September to March).

Example 3: Six-month preparation course for 6th grade (for long-term Gymnasium) or 8/9th grade (for short-term Gymnasium) and specific supplementary intensive courses
In principle, we recommend attending the six-month preparation course in 6th grade or the preparation course in 8/9th grade. If a student needs additional help in specific areas in addition to the preparation course, our intensive courses offer ideal support. In our intensive courses, we cover topics that have not been fully understood yet. We can recap and specifically train those topics (e.g. mathematics, essay writing, etc.) or practice even more exam questions and mock exams during the sports holidays. This gives your child additional self-confidence.

Example 4: Attending a public preparation course at your child's school and specific intensive courses at Gymivorbereitung Zürich
If you are satisfied with your child's public preparation courses, we can supplement those with our intensive courses. This gives your child the chance to have topics explained by a different teacher. In this way, your child receives an independent assessment from our experts.

In the past, we have received feedback that the course days for supplementary courses should not be too long. The Gymnasium preparation time is not only technically and personally demanding, but also highly time-intensive with a time frame of about half a year.

As confirmed by various studies, the time span in which students can focus their attention fully is only between 25 and 30 minutes on average. If the course days last too long, they will be less effective, the students will lose motivation, and their enthusiasm and homework will become an additional burden over the course of half a year.

That is why we intentionally focus on a dynamic teaching structure.

Characteristics of this approach are a high diversity of methods as well as targeted social forms and active support in obtaining interdisciplinary skills such as focus exercises and learning strategies.

Thanks to our many years of experience, we have found that the optimum for a course day during school is 1.5 hours.

However, a shorter course duration does not mean less material – far from it. Our aim is to ensure that the students in our courses can always focus optimally and that the courses are structured as efficiently as possible.

For example, the course hours are used to teach the material. We also want to be able to help to students individually. For instance, essays can be written at home without a teacher and sent to the teacher in advance. The teacher can prepare class with the corrected essays and can thus use the lesson to give comprehensive feedback and tips. They don't "watch" the students while they are writing essays – although this is, of course, an exam situation that we will practice separately. Similarly, your child can do more in-depth exercises at home once the basics have been covered in the course.

If they have any questions, the students can always ask the teacher directly in the chat. The questions will then be discussed in the course or in additional online video conferences and practiced with specific exercises and theory.

This not only promotes your child's independence, but also ensures that the contents of the exam are worked through sustainably and ultimately understood by the students.

6th grade (Langzeitgymnasium)
A transfer from the 6th grade to the long-term Gymnasium will tend to become more difficult. This is due to the steady increase in recent years of students who want to go to the Gymnasium. According to the new regulations, the average of the preliminary grade (German & Mathematics in the interim report January/February) and the examination grade (German: language analysis & essay as well as Mathematics) must be at least 4.75. Previously (up to and including Gymiprüfung 2022) the required average was at least 4.5.
For students from a private school, as before, only the average of the exam grade counts and no previous grades. However, a 4.5 instead of a 4.0 must now be achieved.

8th/9th grade (Kurzzeitgymnasium)
The new examination regulations will be applied for the first time at the Gymnasium entrance examination in March 2023. This will result in the following changes compared to previous years:

• With the new entrance regulations, there will no longer be a French exam at the Gymnasium entrance exam. Thus, the exam section will only consist of German (essay & language observation) and mathematics.
• As with the examination for the long-term Gymnasium, the school grades from the January/February report will count: 50% school grade & 50% examination grade.
• The following subjects are now weighted equally and together form a common school grade: German, Mathematics, French, English, Nature & Technology (Physics, Biology and Chemistry).
• The requirements for a successful transfer will become more difficult. Now, a minimum average of 4.75 must be achieved from the school grade and the examination grade. Students from private schools must now achieve an examination grade of 4.5 (previously 4.0).
• There will no longer be an oral exam (previously, students with an exam grade between 3.75 and 4.0 could still take the oral exam).