"The aim of this spring's trial was to test the country's capacity to conduct e-exams in basic schools. Even though the participation of schools in this trial was voluntary, Harno really called on schools at the beginning of the year to come and take part, otherwise we would have no way of knowing the state of preparedness," said Aimi Püüa, Harno's head of monitoring and evaluation department.

"The e-exams proved very popular, with more than 9,000 students participating. There were 400 schools and 76 percent of the students got the experience of taking a trial exam. Nearly 40 percent of those students took one e-exam, while rest took two," said Püüa.

In a preparedness feedback survey, schools were asked whether they are ready to deliver the e-exams this spring,. The responses were that 57.9 percent, or 235 schools, are ready; 23.6 percent, or 96 schools, are not ready as they do not have the necessary computers. 18.5 percent, or 75 schools, have not responded to the surveys for two years and so no data is available.

"The feedback from students was that the content of the e-exam was rather easy or moderate, the instructions and tasks were understandable and there was enough time [to complete them], as well as some time left over. It's worth noting that students completed the e-exam faster than they would have done a paper-based exam," said Püüa.

"Of the students who took the English language e-exam, 80 percent [said they] would prefer to take the e-exam. In the case of the Estonian [language exam], 53 percent prefer an e-exam. The decision to choose the e-exam was strongly influenced by their experience of taking e-exams. This is because the Estonian e-exam was preceded by a setback regarding the High School entrance exams over the weekend and also a glitch with the video file during the e-exam. Thus, two thirds of those who took the e-exam for Estonian said they were afraid that problems with the computer could affect their exam results," said Püüa.

Püüa added that 42 percent of students who took the e-exam for English said it was inconvenient to speak to the computer.

"Technical glitches were reported during all the e-exams. There were problems registering the computers and starting the program, but also issues with the hardware and logging into the test environment," said Püüa.

Break introduced in Estonian e-exam

"The Estonian e-exam will consist of two part. The first part will be listening and reading, while the second part will be writing. There will be a break between the two parts, which has never been the case before," said Nele Toime, head Harno's language and social sciences assessment unit.

Toime explained that the e-exam additionally tests listening comprehension. "Students will no longer have to read the words in the script, as this is done by the computer, nor will they have to write a draft. Students will additionally receive comprehensive verbal feedback on their writing," said Toime.

"Language skills are assessed automatically. For the listening and reading part, there are both methods of assessment –  automated and human assessment. The writing is fully human-assessable. The first assessment is done by [a student's] own teacher, the second by a Harno-assigned assessor, but if there is a big difference between the two scores, the writing will also then be referred to a third assessor," Toime said.

The Estonian as a Second Language e-exam will be available to assess both B1 and B2 language proficiency levels, unlike the existing one. "The exam will be longer, there will be a break. The e-exam will include listening, reading, knowledge of the structure of the language, and speaking," said Auli Udde, head of the assessment unit for the national language and foreign languages at Harno.

"The English language e-exam assesses reading, listening and speaking. For the listening part, the student listens to the task individually with their own headphones. It will no longer be done with the whole class. In the oral part, we are testing a new approach whereby the student talks to a computer. The objective parts of the exam will be computer-assessed, while writing and speaking will be human-assessed," explained Udde.

On Monday, Estonian Minister of Education and Research Kristian Kallas (Eesti 200), decided that e-exams will be available from spring 2026.

Harno will be in charge of the content and assessment of Estonia's national exams, including e-exams. The Ministry of Education and Research will ensure the technical readiness and development of the necessary examination information system.

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