Matric pupils Lisa de Swardt, Minette De Souza-Allegria, Lourens Nel, Guan Buys and Luan Wakeford celebrate after writing their last exam at Hoerskool Zwartkop in Centurion on 1 December 2023. The last exam for most matriculants was reportedly Afrikaans Paper 3. (Photo: Gallo Images / Beeld / Deaan Vivier) 
The wait is almost over. The Matric Class of 2025 will know how they fared in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams in a matter of days. Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube will announce the national results on Monday, 12 January 2026.
While matriculants, parents, siblings and others await those much-anticipated scores, Daily Maverick thought a little fun quiz might ease the tension. It draws from past South African matric exam papers, testing your knowledge across key NSC subjects including English, mathematical literacy, life orientation and life sciences.
Unlike the actual exams, which test pupils’ mastery of the CAPS curriculum across seven subjects through multiple-choice questions, data exercises, experiments, essays and rigorous problem-solving, this one is light-hearted and bite-sized, just 20 questions to challenge you without the pressure of an academic setting.
See below for the correct answers. Don’t cheat, or we’ll tell Umalusi.
For more updates heading into next week’s release of the matric results, sign up for Daily Maverick’s First Thing newsletter here.