National examinations are implemented on all school students in the Kingdom of Bahrain in Grades 9 and 12. National Examinations are designed in accordance with the international good practices in assessment and aim at independently measuring students' performance based on specific test specifications, which are based on the competencies and skills of the national curriculum in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the international standards in the core subjects as follows:

·         Grade 9 (Arabic, English, mathematics, science).
·         Grade 12 (Arabic, English and mathematical skills).

The national examinations for Grade 9 are based on the national curriculum accredited by the Ministry of Education. The Directorate of National Examinations plays a major role in its design, development and implementation as well as managing the marking process and issuing the results to ensure transparency, consistency, reliability and accuracy of results and information.

The national examinations for Grade 12, test the major competencies that students should have acquired after completing their 12 years of schooling in the Kingdom of Bahrain and in accordance with the national curriculum. The national examinations are designed based on international standards and benchmarked against international qualifications.

In order to reinforce the principle of partnership with national and international assessment centres, DNE is communicating with Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) at the University of Cambridge http://www.cie.org.uk to provide the advisory needed. CIE is considered one of the largest assessment bodies in Europe.​