page_title: Istanbul High School
section_title: Curriculum
hierarchical_section_title: Istanbul High School / Curriculum
caption_attribution_description: English: by Tansel Atasagun (IEL 87)
context_page_description: İstanbul High School, also commonly known as İstanbul Erkek Lisesi, abbreviated İEL, is one of the oldest and internationally renowned high schools of Turkey. The school is considered elite among Turkish public high schools. Germany recognizes the school as a Deutsche Auslandsschule.
  İstanbul Lisesi is located in Cağaloğlu, İstanbul. The school has changed several buildings throughout its history. Since 1933 the school has used its current building. The building was designed by architects Alexander Vallaury and Raimondo D'Aronco and inaugurated in 1882 as the Düyun-u Umumiye Building, which overlooks the entrance to the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. A new building adjacent to the main historical building was inaugurated in 1984, providing new boarding and sports facilities. The primary languages of instruction are Turkish and German. The secondary foreign language of instruction is English.
context_section_description: The school combines both German and Turkish curricula. Mathematics, geometry, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science and German classes are instructed in German, while history, geography, civic education, military sciences, religion, philosophy, literature, physical education, art and music are taught in Turkish. Textbooks, curricula and standards are under the permanent supervision of the German government. German and English are the compulsory foreign languages taught at İstanbul Lisesi.
  Since 1999 İstanbul Lisesi has been a 5-year school. All students are required to spend their first year learning to master the German language, taking twenty-three hours of instruction in their first year and eighteen hours in their second year. Science, mathematics and English courses also start in the preparatory class. Biology is the first science class followed by physics and chemistry in the ninth and tenth grades (second and third years, respectively).
  In the eleventh grade the students choose between two majors: Mathematics and Sciences (FEN), or Turkish and Mathematics (TM). Students who aim to pursue careers in engineering, sciences or medicine, major in FEN, concentrating on science and mathematics courses. TM major is dominated by courses in social sciences and mathematics and is for students who want to study humanities, business, economics or social sciences.
  The academic standards are demanding, and the grading system is strict. As the school follows both German and Turkish curricula, two evaluation scales are used. The grade equivalents in the Turkish evaluation are:
  A GPA of 2.0 is a passing grade, 3.5 is honors, 4.5 is high honors.
  In the German Department student grades are evaluated on a 15 scale:
caption: Second floor SW corridor
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