This is the last stage before college or university.
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Primary education lasts six years and ends with the Primary Certificate, after which students complete three years of intermediate education. For students who successfully complete intermediate education and are awarded the Intermediate Certificate, also called the Intermediate Baccalaureate, there are a number of options at the “preparatory” (upper secondary) level. These include literary, scientific, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and home economics streams, as well as institutions for teacher training and the fine arts; most last three years and lead to the Secondary School Certificate (previously known as the certificate for the Baccalaureate Examination for the Preparatory Schools). Note that if a replacement certificate is issued, it will list the current terminology rather than the name of the certificate when it was originally awarded. Students who do not do well enough to continue on to preparatory education have several vocational options. The secondary certificate in the KRG is called Certificate, Baccalaureate Examination for Preparatory School, and is awarded by the federal Iraqi Kurdistan Region Ministry of Education.
Admission to higher education requires the Secondary School Certificate, or a vocational secondary certificate in an appropriate field, with high marks. The preparatory stream taken determines the program to which the student can apply at the undergraduate level. Admission to engineering, medicine, architecture, and science faculties requires the highest grades on the secondary examination, in the science stream. The scores required are determined by the MoHESR.

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