"The level of the Estonian language skills of non-native speakers have improved significantly," Lao told ERR on Thursday. "Most of them reach B2 level, which means they have advanced skills. And that is the best results in years by far. This means that the language skills of young people is showing a positive trend, and that's good news."

According to Lao, the level has increased in exam results by an improvement of more than 7 percentage points, which is a great leap forward. More than 60% of those who took the state exams reached B2 level this year, while only B1 is required to pass the Estonian secondary school graduation exam, called the state examination.

Another positive change is the fact that Estonia's young have apparently improved in mathematics, too. "The share of those who scored maximum points in the general maths exam has increased fourfold. This is good news for the universities, who want students with good math skills," Lao said.

A third positive development in the analysis of this year's state examination results is that the range of language skills is increasing.

"More and more often, students opt not only for English, but also for other foreign languages, for example French, German, Finnish and Russian," Lao said. "There are also those who are capable of taking two or three foreign languages in the state examinations. For young people, language skills are a priority, and language exams confirm that," she added.

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