Tuesday is the second day of the series of high school leaving exams in Poland, known as the ‘matura’.

Today the focus is on foreign languages and that means English for almost 80 percent of the 440 thousand seniors countrywide. Daniela Zeller from the prestigious Tadeusz Reytan High in Warsaw is happy that most students in her school are taking the advanced level test: “It’s not unusual, bearing in mind that English is a compulsory subject starting from grammar school. The students have a good command of it, so there’s no stress. English is attractive for them and they do not need extra motivation.”

The second most popular foreign language on the ‘matura’ exams is German – the choice among 15 percent of seniors. Russian is favored by 6 percent, while only 1 percent sign up for French, Spanish or Italian.

SS