The aim of this study has been to shed light on some student experiences of the oral part of the national exam in Swedish 3. I was interested in how students decode and interpret the exam, how they prepare their speech, and lastly, how they perform their speech. The study was done by examining the self-reported answers of 18 Swedish upper secondary school students to a questionnaire regarding their experiences of the exam, and interpreting the exam instruction materials by way of critical ideology analysis and discourse analysis. The study is qualitative in both method and analysis. The national exams fill two separate functions; to aid teachers in equal and fair assessment, and to act as a base for analyzing how well the educational goals are met at a school level, a principal level and a national level. Participation for all students in the courses the exams are distributed in is mandatory. The results of the study show that there is a wealth of possible ways to interpret the demands and agency for action provided through the exam instruction materials, and that these are subjective to the individual reader, as an answer to research question 1. But while most students understand what is asked of them through the exam, some of them encounter troubles in interpreting the instruction materials. As an answer to research question 2, the results of the questionnaire answers show that the ways differ in which students are interpreting and solving the task of participating in the oral part of the national exam, but that some students expresses signs of communication apprehension in performing their speech. Since the exams require a considerable amount of the school term to complete, the exam results are often indicative of the grade and final course assessment of the student. Considering this, the study concludes that the students encountering troubles in decoding the instructions, in preparing for or in performing the oral part of the exam, need to be continually supported by teachers during the school year to ensure the equal opportunity of participation for all students, and that the exam results are to be viewed as an equal part of an overall formative student assessment, rather than a summative conclusion to the school year with large sway over the final grade of the students.