Maturity Test

A maturity test based on the thesis is compulsory for all degree students and is taken after the completion of the thesis. Students with Finnish/Swedish as the language of their elementary school education will write the test in Finnish/Swedish accordingly. If the language of a student’s elementary school education is not Finnish/Swedish, the maturity test is taken in English.

The maturity test is a written examination taken as a general examination (see Taking Exams). The main aim of the maturity test is to verify that the student has written the thesis him- or herself.

The main examiner of the thesis prepares one or more questions or topics, which are related to the theme of the thesis. The student writes a four-page essay without any long and complex sentences about the topic(s) with clear handwriting. The essay must be given a title, to which the content of the text has to correspond. The essay should function as a coherent and independent whole that can be understood without any previous knowledge of the thesis. Stylistically, the maturity test should be written according to the standards of academic writing. Overly abstract language should be avoided and usage of theoretical terms should be moderate. The Language Centre of the University of Tampere will check the quality of language used in the answer. If both the content of the essay and the language and grammar used are considered to be acceptable, the student will pass the maturity test. The dichotomy ‘pass’ and ‘fail’ is used in the evaluation.