'Maturità'' school-leaving exams, a rite of passage for every Italian generation, are set to start Wednesday with some 500,000 young Italians sitting the first exam, Italian language.
As many as 70% of the 'maturandi' will spend a sleepless
night tonight, Skuola.net said in a survey Tuesday.
Some 96.3% of candidates were admitted to the maturità this
year, with Sardinia having the lowest rate, 94%, and Basilicata
the highest, 98.5%.
Top TV chef Alessandro Borghese has sent his recommendations
in the education ministry's #NoPanic campaign, which aims to
shepherd the candidates along the way with video advice,
graphics and posts on the main requirements and dates.
"It's important," says the Michelin-starred chef in a clip
that ends a string of videos including linguist Luca Serianni
and astronaut Samantha - "to eat well and at regular times, and
to eat both carbohydrates and proteins, because you need both.
"You need them to get your brain to work".
Education Minister Valeria Fedeli said that with the #NoPanic
campaign "we hope to have accompanied the months preceding the
maturità letting them feel the ministry as a closer
institution".
Speaking at a conference in Bergamo, Fedeli wished the
students and teachers well and said: "You get to the end of the
school year after they all did so much for our kids, so that's
why I'm thanking them above all".
She told the young men and women to "keep calm".
The drill will be a tough one for this year's half million
candidates.
After Italian on June 21, the second written test will take
place the day afterwards, with different subjects for different
schools.
On June 26, after a weekend drawing breath, there will be the
infamous 'big quiz'.
The fourth written test will be on June 27, followed by the
nerve-racking oral tests.
The maturita' is a test of nerve that may be painful at the
time but is mostly fondly remembered, at least by those who cope
despite their jitters.
It has been celebrated in literature and film, most notably
the 2006 teen comedy Notte Prima Degli Esami (Night Before The
Exams), set in 1989, written and directed by Fausto Brizzi, and
starring Nicolas Vaporidis in a starmaking role, Cristiana
Capotondi and Girogio Faletti.
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