The majority of high-school seniors have opted to take a social studies paper in the unified state exams this year, with physics and history also popular choices, government figures have shown.
In addition to mandatory exams in Russian and math, more than 420,000 students — or more than 60 percent of those sitting the state exams required for college admission — have chosen social studies as an elective paper, a spokesperson for the Federal Inspection Service for Education and Science said, Izvestia reported Thursday.
Physics was the second-most popular choice, with 189,000 students choosing to sit the test, followed by history with 157,000 students, and biology with 141,000 students.
Moscow City Pedagogical University dean Igor Remorenko said natural sciences had become increasingly popular choices in recent years — an indication that students planned to major in science in college.
"It became apparent last year, when chemistry, biology and physics were widely represented among the subjects chosen by students," Remorenko said.
"And it is a pleasant fact that kids are really interested not only in trendy and popular specialties, such as economics or management, but also in technical, scientific fields."
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