The researchers used data from 74,347 students from the 2023-2024 school year. For each student, they studied:
- Teacher grades in mandatory and elective subjects during the school year
- Exam grades
- Which elective subjects the student chose
The project was carried out by Björn Andersson, professor at CEMO, and Sverre Berg Ofstad, PhD candidate at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. The report, "Karakterulempen ved å velge realfag: I hvilken grad veier realfagspoengene opp for den?", is now finished and can be downloaded here (Norwegian).
The main finding, consistent with a previous study that used 2018-2019 data, is that elective subjects in natural science are, on average, harder to get high grades in than other elective subjects. As a result, students who choose natural science subjects on average end up with a lower grade point average (GPA) than students who choose other subjects even if the students are equally capable.
The report also examines two systems of bonus points for natural science subjects ("realfagspoeng"):
- The current system (used in university admissions until 2027/2028), where students can earn up to four bonus points for natural science subjects
- The new system (used in university admissions from 2028/2029), where students can earn up to two bonus points
The analyses suggest that:
- The current system, with up to four bonus points, on average gives too much compensation for the extra difficulty of natural science subjects
- The new system, with up to two bonus points, on average gives too little compensation
Read the full report here (Norwegian) and the technical appendix here (English). Scripts to replicate the analyses are available on GitHub.