High School Students that pursue the Recommended or the Distinguished Achievment Graduation programs must earn 26 course credits, including four credits each of math, science, social studies and English Language Arts to graduate.

Students muss pass their classes as well as all four sections of the exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), in order to receive a diploma and graduate from a Texas public high school.

A student first takes the exit-level TAKS in the spring of the junior year.

The exit-level TAKS includes math, science, social studies and English Language Arts. The test is based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, which are the curriculum standards (or broad curriculum requirements) that teachers use every day in the classroom.

Students will have five opportunities prior to their graduation to take and pass TAKS, however passing it in the junior year is preferable.