← Back to the rankingKarinthy Frigyes Gimnázium
Budapest, Hungary · est. 1986 · State
Illustration · Budapest
Karinthy Frigyes Gimnázium is a state grammar school in Budapest's district XVIII, part of the Külső-Pesti Tankerületi Központ. Teaching began in 1986, and the school took the name of the writer Karinthy Frigyes in 1989. It has three streams: English-Hungarian and German-Hungarian két tanítási nyelvű (bilingual) five-year programmes with a preparatory language year 9.Kny and 20 hours of language a week, plus a four-year stream with intensive English. In the bilingual streams six subjects (history, mathematics, physics, biology, geography and civilisation) are taught in English or German under the Hungarian curriculum; graduates take the érettségi, which with a good result counts as a C1 language exam. Since autumn 1992 the school has offered the two-year IB Diploma Programme in English for grades 11-12 alongside the Hungarian programme; the school says it was the first state school in Eastern Europe authorised to prepare students for the IB, and its first graduates in 1994 achieved the best school average in the world. Seven IB graduates have scored the maximum 45 points. There are 718 students in 26 classes and close to seventy teachers.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
Hungarian, English, German
Languages taught
French, Italian, Spanish, Russian
Class size
up to 30 students per class in the bilingual programme; languages and subjects taught in a foreign language are in half-class groups
About the fees The school is state-run; it does not state any tuition fee for the Hungarian programme. For the IB programme the school writes that support from the Budapest and district governments no longer covers the costs and the shortfall is requested from parents; the website does not state the amount. A small school foundation gives partial scholarships to a few outstanding students.
Admissions The Hungarian programme admits only students finishing grade 8, through the central entrance exam: applications go through the Oktatási Hivatal form (oktatas.hu), with written and oral stages; no prior language knowledge is needed for the bilingual streams. Transfer from six- and eight-year grammar schools is possible on request to the principal before the exams. For the IB class (grades 11-12), students of the school's English bilingual stream are admitted on teacher recommendation; students of the German stream and class D take English-medium exams in the subjects they will study in English; a grade of 3 or below in grade 10 requires an exam for a Higher Level subject. External applicants, including from other countries, submit a motivation letter and sit written entrance exams in June or late August in their chosen subjects; applicants from abroad certify that they have completed the studies required for an IB course in their country, applicants from Hungarian schools that they have completed 10 years of education. Applicants who studied for at least two years in an English-speaking country are exempt from the English exam. The school states directly that it welcomes applications from students of other schools and countries.
Stages and year groups Grades 9.Kny, 9-12; IB 11-12, 26 classes. Hungarian national grammar school programme with érettségi: classes A, B and E form the English-Hungarian két tanítási nyelvű stream (five years; mathematics, humanities and media, science and IT specialisations), class C the German-Hungarian két tanítási nyelvű stream (five years; economics specialisation), class D the four-year stream with intensive English (5 hours a week). In grades 11-12 the IB Diploma Programme runs in parallel in English (classes 11.IB and 12.IB); the Diploma Programme is the only IB programme the school offers. IB subjects taught in English: biology, physics, geography, chemistry, environmental systems and societies, economics, mathematics, psychology, computer science, history, theory of knowledge.
Address 1183 Budapest, Thököly utca 7. (XVIII. kerület)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmePASCH · takes part in the programmeThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school; it is taught in grades 11-12 as an English-language line alongside the Hungarian gymnasium programme and the érettségi exam. The school is listed in the PASCH network as a school offering the German language diploma DSD.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →PASCHSchools: Partners for the Future, an initiative of the German foreign ministry
More than two thousand schools in about 120 countries. A school cannot apply for itself: participants are chosen by German agencies in agreement with the embassy. Very different schools sit under one mark - full German schools abroad, and ordinary national schools that simply teach German well.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to a German support programme. By itself the mark means neither a German curriculum nor the right to award a German certificate: of the two thousand PASCH schools, about seventeen hundred hold no such right. Look for a ZfA status next to it - that is the one that is about this. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results Érettségi: in 2024-2025, 130 students took the exam with an average of 4.77 out of 5; 293 advanced-level exams were taken with an average of 4.87 (in 2023-2024: 120 students, 4.77, and 266 advanced-level exams averaging 4.89). IB: the school does not publish yearly averages; graduates of 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2008, 2020 and 2021 scored the maximum 45 points.
Where leavers go: Harvard University · Sorbonne University
According to the school, all IB graduates go on to higher education, mostly in Hungary; students have been admitted to Harvard, the Sorbonne and other European and American universities. The school does not publish yearly admissions statistics.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school building dates from 1986: spacious, bright interiors, modern technical equipment, two libraries (Hungarian and English), a studio, a workshop, a kitchen and a buffet. School meals are provided by Delirest. The school is in a green area next to a well-kept park. There is no boarding.
Clubs and activities: gazdasági ismeretek szakkör (economics club) · matematika szakkör (maths club) · DePhyMa szakkör (DePhyMa club) · fizika szakkör (physics club) · kémiaszakkör (chemistry club) · kémia labor (chemistry lab) · informatika szakkör (computing club) · OKTV szakkör (preparation for the OKTV national olympiad) · Mikola szakkör (preparation for the Mikola physics competition) · német szakkör (German club) · olasz szakkör (Italian club) · helyesírás szakkör (spelling club) · kreatív írás szakkör (creative writing) · dráma szakkör (drama club) · énekkar (choir) · vizuális kultúra (visual arts) · társasjáték (board games) · kosárlabda (basketball) · röplabda (volleyball) · szertorna (artistic gymnastics) · kondi edzés (strength training)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The school has close to seventy teachers. In the bilingual streams every student is also taught by native-speaker teachers. Foreign languages and subjects taught in a foreign language are taught in half-class groups. There is a dedicated IB coordinator and a university admissions adviser. Students vote every year for the teacher of the year (Hartai Sándor award).
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Depending on staffing, a school psychologist works at the school; students are referred by the school doctor or form teacher and may also come on their own during consultation hours. Form teachers refer students to the district pedagogical service or contact the district family and child welfare centre when needed. The school runs prevention programmes.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median71 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country