Published on: 2026-06-01
Source: St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University of Peter the Great –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The EGE includes two main task sections: a test part and a part with an expanded answer. Depending on the subject, specific sections may be added (for example, listening in English), but the main portion of EGE points is given precisely for the test and written sections. It is important to study the EGE score conversion table for your exam and understand how many points can be obtained in each section. The Directorate of Pre-University Education and Talent Attraction of Politechnical noted that most often the greatest increase in secondary points comes from tasks in the test part, especially in technical disciplines.
Experts remind: the cause of losing points is often not ignorance, but inattention. Before writing the answer, it is recommended to carefully reread the conditions and make sure that the answer is given in strict accordance with the requirements. For example, in an exam problem in physics or chemistry, graduates often make mistakes due to incorrect unit conversions: for example, a correct numerical answer may be found, but it has not been converted from kilometers to meters. Of course, it is important not to forget to check the plausibility of the answer. If the solution to the problem, for example in mathematics, seems logically consistent, the speed of a bus in the problem cannot be 800 km/h.
Specialists also advise not leaving blank fields in the answer sheet. Even if you do not know the solution, fill in the data, perform some actions, guess the answer based on the picture — this is a chance to earn points, whereas an empty box guaranteed gives zero.
For the USE in mathematics, the following sequence of completing tasks is recommended: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19(a), 14, 18, 17, 19(b, c). This is the order of moving from simpler tasks to more complex ones.
Use all the allotted time: if you decided everything you could, but there is still an hour left, don’t rush to submit the work — spend it on rechecking or give yourself a chance to recall from under the complex solution. Reliable examples of formatting are worth looking at in advance on the FIPI website. Regarding timing, orient yourself as follows: do not spend more than 7–10 minutes on one task of the test part, and the overall goal is to gain the primary points as efficiently as possible. By the way, the skill of quickly switching between tasks and work is excellently trained on regular practice tests.For example, in the courses at Politeh, tests are often conducted under conditions that are as close as possible to the real ones so that on the actual exam the timing does not become a stress factor and cause a loss of points.
Preparation for the Unified State Exam (USE)
There is no universal program for preparing for the USE. Of course, preparation for the USE should begin well before the exam itself.
If you still have a lot of time before taking the USE, find out if there are additional classes — electives — at your school. They are useful because they prepare you specifically for the exam. You can also consider courses for preparing for the USE. There are many of them now, so it is worth paying attention to the presence of licenses and the qualifications of the teachers. In addition, you can contact a private tutor — in this case, also check their qualifications and experience, find out what results other students have achieved. But the most important step is a regular honest self-check.It is important not just to decide on YE options, but to analyze mistakes and find ways to eliminate gaps. There is no universal recipe for this: children are different, and ways of perception differ for everyone. For some, additional classes at school are enough because personal contact with the teacher is important; for others, a systematic course is needed; for some, an individual tutor is necessary for targeted work; and for maximum results, a comprehensive approach is often required. The main thing is to choose the format in which it is comfortable for you to close gaps and see progress.Regularly check your knowledge: solve as many USE options as possible to be prepared for any tasks and understand your strengths and weaknesses. It’s never too late to do this, noted Dmitry Tikhonov, Vice-Rector for Additional and Pre-University Education at SPbPU.
When there is very little time left before the exam, experts advise refreshing in memory the key elements of the program. Video reviews can help with this. It is also important to study the procedure for conducting the Unified State Exam (EGE) in the chosen subject. For example, when preparing for the EGE in computer science, muscle memory can be helpful! Experts explain: repeatedly solving programming problems allows you to memorize symbol combinations. The format of intensive courses and detailed analyses can also help.For example, at an open webinar by Politeka, they help to delve deeper into complex topics of the school curriculum and show exactly how they assist with the Unified State Exam tasks — this allows you to see the logic of the exam from the inside.
Важен настрой на успех
It is important to remember that scoring the maximum points on the Unified State Exam (USE) is quite possible. In Polite, there are many students who managed to get 100 points on one exam or even several exams. For example, Mirat Khalikov, a student at the Institute of Computer Science and Cybersecurity at SPbPU, scored 100 points on both physics and mathematics on the USE: There is no secret here. I prepared for the USE from the tenth grade. I had a tutor for mathematics and studied physics in an online school. I always did all the homework and solved many different USE variants. I was never afraid of difficult tasks—in fact, I tried to solve them as often as possible.And his colleague at the institute Ivan Chesnokov scored 100 points on the Unified State Exam in physics, studying only at school: he attended electives and solved many problems independently at home.
Along with systematic preparation for the exam, setting the goal of successfully passing it immediately before the start of the test is also important.
Successful admission depends only on the results of the entrance exams — this can be the Unified State Exam or the university’s own exam. Of course, it is important to prepare in advance for the exams, not to spare time on studying additional materials and solving complex problems. At the same time, before the exam it is important to have a positive mindset and to approach it with confidence in your abilities and a sincere desire to pass the exam not just with a minimum score, but with an “excellent” grade, notes the responsible secretary of the admission committee of SPbPU Vitaliy Drobchik.
Psychologists of the Center for Psychological Support of SPbPU agree with this. From the point of view of psychophysiology, anxiety before a significant event is the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares the body for mobilization: the body switches into ‘gather yourself, you can do it’ mode. The problem arises not because of the anxiety itself, but because of its interpretation. When a teenager thinks ‘I’m panicking, that means I’m weak,’ secondary anxiety is triggered — fear of fear, and it is precisely this that needs to be addressed.
Legalizing the feeling helps: the phrase “yes, I’m nervous, and that’s okay” already reduces tension. Working with the body helps too — breathing, short muscle relaxation, a walk before the exam. And cognitive reappraisal helps: instead of “this is the exam on which my whole life depends” — “this is just one of the stages I can get through.” Such a shift in framing lowers cortisol levels and improves cognitive functions during stress,” explained psychologist Alexey Viksnin from the Center for Psychological Support of SPbPU.
When the alarm goes off the charts and attention scatters, the brain switches to searching for threats instead of solving tasks. Therefore, it is worth creating anchors in advance that return to “reality”: a tactile object in the pocket, a short mantra (“I take step by step”), or the technique “5-4-3-2-1” — find five things around you that you see, four that you hear, three that you feel with your body, and so on. It is also useful to have a “Plan B”: “if I forget the formula — I’ll skip the task and come back later.”When the situation feels controlled, anxiety decreases, so it is worth starting with simple tasks — this creates a sense of progress and activates a positive feedback loop.
It is important to immediately remove the burden of fatalism, specialists advise. At 17 years old, a person undergoes a normative identity crisis, and the question “who to be?” is not only about a profession, but about finding oneself. Pressure from society creates so-called introjects — external attitudes accepted as one’s own, hence the possibility of making mistakes. But a mistake in choice is not a catastrophe, but part of self-determination: the Lifelong Learning concept assumes that a person can change professional trajectories several times in life, therefore choosing a university is a hypothesis that can be tested.
These tips will be useful not only for the Unified State Exam (USE), but also before any exams. Remember: anyone can prepare for everything, the main thing is to study and set yourself up correctly. Then you will pass the USE with 100 points, and other exams with “excellent” — and then the student life at the university of your dreams will begin.
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