Maturity 2024, the possible traces of the first test
The tests have now arrived in schools in the form of an electronic package
ROME – The game is over: we start on June 19th andthe traces of the 2024 Maturity have now arrived in schools in the form of an electronic package. But students also have clear ideas about total tracks. As far as prose authors are concerned, the one for the D’Annunzio-Pirandello couple is almost a plebiscite, with Ungaretti, Svevo and Pascolias possible backups. For poetry it is Ungaretti who fills the void behind him, even if Montale recovers some positions.
Matteotti, Oppenheimer and Lenin remain at the top of the preferences for the “anniversaries” section. Among the historical anniversaries, the First World War stands out, but the landing in Normandy also makes its way. Artificial Intelligence, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and gender violence are, however, at the top of the list of favorite current affairs issues. Updating the “bag” of exam topics, when there are only a few days left until the starting whistle, is the traditional Skuola.net eve-toto-traces, drawn up thanks to the contribution of 1,500 high school graduates.
The first proposals that students will discover on the day of the first writing are those of “text analysis”. And here, at least in the heads of girls and boys, there is room for a very limited list of names. If the Ministry were to focus on a nineteenth-century author – let’s remember that we can range between works produced from the Unification of Italy onwards – the prediction is almost obligatory: 4 out of 10, with further growth Compared to the findings of recent months, they put their chips on Gabriele D’Annunzio. But, deep down, it’s like this every year. We just need to see if, after decades of absence and insistence, the graduates will finally be satisfied.
A similar dynamic is found in the presence oftwentieth century authors. The leading candidate among the graduates is Luigi Pirandello, opted for by over a third (34%). And, here too, the expectations are very high at every maturity but, then, nothing ever happens: the last time it came out was in 2003. Will it be the right time? A few hours and we will find out.
Otherwise, as alternatives, for the 19th century the following would be appreciated: Giovanni Verga (almost 1 in 3 indicates this), who however was proposed in 2022, or Alessandro Manzoni (voted by 18%) but he, yes, never happened in recent times. While for the 20th century the graduating students would celebrate if they ended up with Italo Svevo (selected by 22% of the sample), who last came out way back in 2009, or Italo Calvino (so for 17%), which happened to high school graduates in 2015, perhaps too recently.
TEXT ANALYSIS
Moving on to poetry, again for the “text analysis” typology, the students recall a great classic from the first high school exam: Giuseppe Ungaretti, predicted by 1 out of 4 – with prices, here too, increasing compared to the previous total tracks – and proposed in rapid sequence in 2006, 2011 and 2019. Following this trend, the time could be ripe for a new appearance. The same can be said for the poet in second position: Eugenio Montale, “adopted” by 14% of the graduates and with whom their colleagues from 2004, 2008 and 2012 have already compared themselves. Otherwise, Giovanni Pascoli (12%), who however left in 2022, and Giacomo Leopardi (11%), who, having died before the Unification of ‘Italy does not perfectly fit into the list of eligible authors for the analysis of the text.
But, at the same time, most graduates are aware that the unknown is around the corner. Which takes the form of the infamous “unknown” author: for 1 in 2 it is almost fatal that it will happen. On the contrary, the chances assigned to the “feminine” author are lower: only 1 in 4 considers the debut of a woman probable in the analysis of the Maturità text.
THE ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT
Many graduating students, however, often leave out literature to try their hand at types of topics less linked to school programmes. Like the “argumentative text”, whose traces – in the final exam there are three – often contain references to anniversaries and historical occasions. If this were to happen, the students reached by the Skuola.net survey are increasingly betting on the centenary of the Matteotti crime: today over 1 in 3 believe it, a month ago it was 1 in 4.
On the second step of the podium, but very far behind, is the110th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, voted by (12%). In third place, however, stands a previously almost ignored topic: the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing (6 June 1944), which rises to 10% of the consensus, perhaps driven by the very recent celebrations. Immediately below, between 6% and 9% we have: 20 years since the birth of Facebook, 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 75 years since the foundation of NATO, 70 years of Italian TV.
What if the date symbol was closely linked to a character? In this case the girls and boys reiterate what was said in the past months:the favorite of the day before, for 30% of those directly interested, continues to be the physicist Robert Oppenheimer – whose 120th anniversary is – probably launched by the Oscar-winning biopic on his figure but which brings with it an undoubtedly topical topic, such as the debate on the atomic bomb.
A possible trace on the centenary of Lenin’s death is also stable: 1 in 5 believes in it. The third position is divided – with around 10% of the consensus – by 150 years since birth of Guglielmo Marconi and the 100th anniversary of the death of Franz Kafka.
THE CURRENT TOPIC
Thecurrent topic is another very popular type in the exam. Where yet another confirmation is recorded. The challenge is between a trio divided by a handful of votes: first is the track on “Artificial intelligence and new digital frontiers” (24%), second is the one on “Conflict between Israel and Palestine” (21%), third is the double issue of “Violence against women” and “Gender equality” (18%). At the foot of the podium, but in decline, the “War in Ukraine” (9%).