(MENAFN- Morocco World News) On Friday and Saturday, 306,000 high school students across Morocco sat for the first round of the baccalaureate exam.

In Moroccan high schools, all students follow a common curriculum (tronc commun) for one year to determine if they will study language arts or science. Following this period, they focus on their chosen track in the two-year baccalaureate cycle.

Last week, students from the first year of the baccalaureate program took the national exam, which is administered on a regional level. Starting today, the students in the last year of the baccalaureate will sit for the national exam.

The baccalaureate examinations at the middle and end of each year are scored on a twenty-point scale. To pass, students must receive an average grade of ten or above. In 2014, about 45% of candidates passed the final examination.

During the regional testing period, two problems arose. First, the Ministry of Education reported that the government arrested 21 people across Morocco for allegedly disseminating testing material before the exam. During the test, the Ministry reported that 3,048 cases of cheating. Many of these cases involved students accessing websites for information.

Secondly, some smartphones changed the time a day early, causing baccalaureate candidates to arrive late on Saturday. Since some of these students missed the exam, the Ministry of Education will allow candidates who were unable to begin the test on the second morning to retake it on June 10.