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Exam Review

Key Facts: Slovakia Maturita History Exam

The maturita in history consists only of an oral internal examination (ústna forma internej časti, ÚFIČ MS).

The history target requirements were approved in 2016 and have applied since 1 September 2018.

Each assignment has three tasks: knowledge and understanding, application and analysis, and synthesis and evaluation.

Decree No. 224/2022 Z. z. allows 20 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of answering.

The subject examination commission consists of a chair and two examiners.

The catalogue has six areas, from the historian's workshop to the history of the 20th century.

The 20th-century area extends to the independent Slovak Republic after 1993 and the world at the turn of the century.

A final grade of 1–4 passes the subject; the examination is free for enrolled students.

The examination is held in the language in which the subject was taught, such as Slovak or Hungarian.

The Slovak maturita in history (dejepis) is an oral school examination: the student draws one assignment of three tasks (knowledge, analysis, evaluation), gets 20 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to answer, and passes with a final grade of 1–4.

Sample Slovakia Maturita History Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to review concepts for the Slovakia Maturita History exam. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1Which criterion fundamentally distinguishes a primary historical source from a secondary source in historical research?
A.A primary source comes from the period studied (e.g. a charter or diary); a secondary source interprets such sources later
B.A primary source is preserved exclusively in state archives, whereas a secondary source is available in public libraries.
C.A primary source must always be a written document, whereas a secondary source consists of material artifacts.
D.A primary source is verified by the state historical committee, whereas a secondary source is unverified popular literature.
Explanation: Primary sources are direct, firsthand contemporary records or artifacts created during the period under examination, such as charters, diaries, and archaeological artifacts. Secondary sources are works written after the events took place, in which historians analyze, interpret, and synthesize primary evidence.
2Which auxiliary historical science (pomocná veda historická) specializes in deciphering, reading, and dating ancient and medieval handwritten scripts?
A.Epigraphy
B.Diplomatics
C.Sfragistics
D.Paleography
Explanation: Paleography is the auxiliary historical science that studies ancient and medieval handwriting on soft materials (parchment, paper, papyrus), analyzing ductus, abbreviations, letterforms, and evolutionary script styles to decipher texts and date documents.
3What is the primary objective of diplomatics (diplomatika) as an auxiliary historical science?
A.Mapping the geographical coordinates of medieval boundaries described in land grants
B.Analyzing the structure, formulas, and authenticity of official charters and deeds
C.Cataloging and deciphering the symbolic imagery on noble and municipal wax seals
D.Translating classical Greek and Roman philosophical treatises into vernacular languages
Explanation: Diplomatics examines the internal and external characteristics of legal and administrative documents (charters, diplomas, privileges), evaluating chancery formulas (invocatio, arenga, narratio, dispositio) to establish authenticity, identify forgeries, and reconstruct legal processes.
4Which auxiliary historical science is concerned with the origin, typology, legal function, and iconographical interpretation of seals?
A.Numismatics
B.Genealogy
C.Sfragistics
D.Heraldry
Explanation: Sfragistics (or sphragistics) investigates seals attached to historical documents, studying seal matrices, impressions, waxes, typologies (pendant seals, counter-seals), and legal functions as primary authentication devices in medieval and early modern chanceries.
5Which fundamental rule of classical heraldry governs the chromatic composition of coats of arms (blazons)?
A.Metal must not be placed on metal, nor colour on colour
B.All noble coats of arms must incorporate a predator animal in the center of the shield.
C.No coat of arms may display more than two distinct visual symbols simultaneously.
D.Religious symbols are strictly restricted to clerical coats of arms and banned from secular nobility.
Explanation: The fundamental rule of tincture in heraldry stipulates that color (gules, azure, sable, vert, purpure) must not be placed upon color, nor metal (or/gold and argent/silver) upon metal, ensuring high visual contrast for recognition from a distance on medieval battlefields and tournaments.
6In what way does numismatics provide indispensable primary evidence for economic and political historians?
A.Coins are the only surviving historical source from which medieval demographic population totals can be accurately calculated.
B.Coin legends record the full text of laws and treaties issued by each ruler
C.Coins provide exact radiocarbon dates for every archaeological layer in which they are found
D.Coin finds and metal purity reveal monetary policy, trade routes, inflation, and rulers' authority
Explanation: Numismatics provides critical evidence on economic dynamics, purchasing power, debasement, bullion sources, and commercial circuits through coin hoards and metallic analysis. It also illuminates political history through royal titles, regnal years, and state portraiture minted under regal monopolies.
7Why did Pope Gregory XIII introduce the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582, replacing the ancient Julian calendar?
A.The Julian calendar had only 10 months and lacked a systematic calculation of leap years.
B.The Julian year was about 11 minutes too long, so the equinox and the date of Easter drifted
C.The Catholic Church sought to switch civil record-keeping from solar cycles to a strictly lunar calendar.
D.The reform was intended to align European timekeeping with the Islamic Hijri calendar for diplomatic purposes.
Explanation: The Julian calendar assumed a tropical year length of exactly 365.25 days, accumulating an error of about 11 minutes and 14 seconds per year (1 day every 128 years). By 1582, the spring equinox had drifted to March 11 instead of March 21, destabilizing the calculation of Easter. The papal bull Inter gravissimas corrected 10 days and established the modern leap-year rule for centurial years.
8What is the key methodological distinction between genealogy and historical epigraphy?
A.Genealogy studies only royal families, whereas epigraphy studies the everyday language of common serfs.
B.Epigraphy is exclusively practiced for prehistoric excavations, whereas genealogy begins after the French Revolution.
C.Genealogy studies family descent and kinship; epigraphy reads inscriptions on stone or metal
D.Genealogy relies strictly on oral traditions, whereas epigraphy is limited to analyzing painted pottery fragments.
Explanation: Genealogy reconstructs lines of descent, ancestral lineages, and kinship relationships among individuals using parish registers, deeds, and family archives. Epigraphy is the scientific study of written inscriptions incised, painted, or carved onto durable surfaces such as monuments, stone slabs, altars, and bronze tablets.
9Which prominent anthropological find discovered in Slovakia represents exceptional direct fossil evidence of Neanderthal habitation during the Middle Paleolithic?
A.The travertine endocranial braincase cast from Gánovce near Poprad
B.The complete fossilized skeleton of an infant found at Devín Castle
C.The carved bone needle discovered inside the Domica cave
D.The flint dagger hoard unearthed at Nitra-Čermáň
Explanation: In 1926, stone quarry workers at Gánovce near Poprad discovered a natural travertine petrified endocranial cast of a Neanderthal skull cap, dated to the last interglacial period (Riss-Würm, approximately 105,000 years ago). It remains one of Central Europe's most vital anthropological landmarks.
10The celebrated prehistoric artifact known as the Venus of Moravany (Moravianska venuša), discovered in western Slovakia, belongs to which archaeological period and material culture?
A.Neolithic Linear Pottery culture, modeled from kiln-fired ceramic clay
B.Eneolithic Baden culture, cast in copper and tin bronze alloy
C.Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture, hammered from sheet gold
D.Upper Paleolithic Gravettian culture, carved from mammoth tusk ivory
Explanation: The Venus of Moravany is a 7.6-cm female fertility figurine carved from mammoth ivory, discovered near Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Radiocarbon analysis dates it to the Gravettian period of the Upper Paleolithic (approximately 22,800 years BC).

About the Slovakia Maturita History Exam

Independent study practice for the maturita in history (maturitná skúška z dejepisu) in Slovakia. History is a social-science maturita subject taken only as an oral internal examination (ústna forma internej časti, ÚFIČ MS) under the School Act (Zákon č. 245/2008 Z. z.) and Decree No. 224/2022 Z. z. The student draws one school-prepared assignment based on the national target requirements for history (Cieľové požiadavky, ŠPÚ 2016, valid from 1 September 2018), prepares for 20 minutes and answers for 20 minutes before a commission of a chair and two examiners. Each assignment has three tasks of increasing cognitive demand: knowledge and understanding, application and analysis, and synthesis and evaluation, including work with historical sources. The 100 practice questions cover all six catalogue areas from the historian's workshop to the 20th century. This bank is an English-language, four-option multiple-choice study adaptation for reviewing events, concepts and causes; it is not an official assignment set or translation and does not simulate the oral examination.

Exam sponsor: The student's secondary school and its subject examination commission, under the School Act and Decree No. 224/2022 Z. z.; national target requirements maintained by NIVaM for the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic. The requirements and fees below concern the certification or admission exam, separate from our free practice resources.

Assessment

Question count not published by the exam provider

Time Limit

20 minutes of preparation + 20 minutes of oral answer

Passing Score

Final grade 1–4 from the subject examination commission; grade 5 fails the subject.

Exam / Certification Fees

Free; the maturita is part of secondary education at the student's school.

Exam sponsor website

Fees, eligibility, and exam policies can change. Confirm them with the exam sponsor before applying or paying.

Our practice resources: topics covered

We aim to reflect publicly available exam outlines and topic information in our study resources. Coverage, format, and difficulty may differ from the actual exam, and we cannot guarantee that every detail is accurate or current. Confirm exam requirements, fees, and policies with the official exam sponsor.

No official weighting; 8 of 100 practice questions

Úvod do štúdia dejepisu – „historikova dielňa“ (Introduction to History – the Historian's Workshop)

Historical sources and their types, chronology and periodization, synchronous tables, historiography, regional history and cultural heritage (UNESCO).

No official weighting; 10 of 100 practice questions

Počiatky ľudskej kultúry a civilizácie (Beginnings of Human Culture and Civilization)

Prehistoric culture and the general features of the culture of prehistoric people.

No official weighting; 16 of 100 practice questions

Starovek (Antiquity)

The oldest river civilizations and first states, ancient Greece (city-states, democracy, Hellenism), ancient Rome (republic, empire, Christianity), and the Migration Period.

No official weighting; 22 of 100 practice questions

Stredovek (Middle Ages)

The Migration Period and early medieval states, Samo's realm and Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, medieval society, church and secular power, towns and villages, and Christianity and Islam.

No official weighting; 22 of 100 practice questions

Novovek (Early Modern and Modern Era)

Humanism, the Renaissance and the Reformation, discoveries and colonial empires, absolutism and revolutions, the French Revolution and Napoleon, industrialization, national movements, and Hungary and Slovakia under the Habsburgs, including the Ottoman period.

No official weighting; 22 of 100 practice questions

Dejiny 20. storočia (History of the 20th Century)

World War I, Slovakia in interwar Czechoslovakia, totalitarian regimes, World War II and the Slovak Republic of 1939–1945 (including the Slovak National Uprising), the Cold War, the Velvet Revolution, the independent Slovak Republic and its EU membership, and the world at the turn of the century.

Preparing for the Slovakia Maturita History Exam

What You Need to Know

  • Passing score: Final grade 1–4 from the subject examination commission; grade 5 fails the subject.
  • Assessment: Question count not published by the exam provider
  • Time limit: 20 minutes of preparation + 20 minutes of oral answer
  • Exam / certification fees: Free; the maturita is part of secondary education at the student's school. Official sources

Using Our Practice Resources

  • Work through all 100 available questions
  • Review every answer and explanation
  • Track weak areas and revisit them
  • Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

Slovakia Maturita History: Suggested Study Strategy

1Build a synchronous timeline that places Slovak and Central European events beside world events, as the catalogue expects synchronous and asynchronous placement.
2For every major event, prepare causes, course and consequences, which is the core of task 2.
3Practise analysing short written, pictorial and material sources: who created them, when, why, and how reliable they are.
4Prepare reasoned evaluations for task 3, for example assessing the significance of Great Moravia, the Enlightenment reforms or 1989, and support them with facts.
5Learn key terms precisely in Slovak, such as periodization, historiography and cultural heritage, and use them actively when answering.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the format of the Slovak maturita in history?

History (dejepis) is taken only as an oral internal examination (ÚFIČ MS). The student draws one school-prepared maturitné zadanie, prepares for 20 minutes and answers for 20 minutes before a subject commission made up of a chair and two examiners. The subject can be chosen as an elective or as a voluntary maturita subject.

What do the three tasks test?

Under the history target requirements, task 1 tests knowledge and understanding of a concept, fact, phenomenon or process; task 2 tests application and analysis, such as comparing events or identifying causes and consequences; and task 3 tests synthesis and evaluation, where the student critically assesses historical content and takes a reasoned position.

How is the history maturita graded?

The subject commission grades the answer on the 1 (výborný) to 5 (nedostatočný) scale under Decree No. 224/2022 Z. z. A final grade of 1–4 passes; a student who fails can take a retake (opravná skúška) in a later examination period, usually September or February.

Is this practice bank an official maturita assignment set?

No. This is independent practice by OpenExamPrep: an English-language, four-option multiple-choice study adaptation of the six areas in the history target requirements. It is not an official assignment set or translation and does not simulate the oral examination or its source-based tasks.