Intermediate vs. Secondary — What's the Difference?

A preparatory stage for university, often emphasizing academic depth.

Mandatory in many countries, aiming to ensure a minimum level of education for all.

Usually the final stage before tertiary education, offered in grades 11 and 12.

A stage of schooling that follows elementary education and precedes higher secondary or tertiary education.

May require entrance tests depending on the region or school system.

Encompasses a broad curriculum designed to provide foundational knowledge across various subjects.

Often optional, based on career interests and higher education goals.

Includes the development of basic academic and life skills.

Education that bridges secondary schooling and higher education, focusing on specialized subjects.

Typically does not require entrance exams and is more universally accessible.

Coming between two things in time, place, character, etc.

Second or lower in rank or importance; not primary

An intermediate thing.

Following what is first in time or sequence

Act as intermediary; mediate

Of or relating to secondary schools.

Lying or occurring between two extremes or in a middle position or state

Derived from what is primary or original

One that is in a middle position or state.

Not immediate or direct

An intermediary.

Of, relating to, or being the shorter flight feathers projecting along the inner edge of a bird's wing.

(Chemistry) A substance formed as a necessary stage in the manufacture of a desired end product.

(Electricity) Having an induced current that is generated by an inductively coupled primary. Used of a circuit or coil.

An automobile that is smaller than a full-sized model but larger than a compact.

Relating to, or having a carbon atom that is attached to two other carbon atoms in a molecule.

To act as an intermediary; mediate.

Relating to the replacement of two of several atoms or groups in a compound, such as an amine in which two valences of the functional group are taken by carbon atoms.

To intervene.

(Geology) Produced from another mineral by decay or alteration.

Being between two extremes, or in the middle of a range.

Of or relating to a secondary color or colors.

Anything in an intermediate position.

Being a degree of health care intermediate between primary care and tertiary care, as that typically offered at a community hospital.

An intermediary.

(Botany) Of, relating to, or derived from a lateral meristem, especially a cambium.

(chemistry) Any substance formed as part of a series of chemical reactions that is not the end-product.

One that acts in an auxiliary, subordinate, or inferior capacity.

(intransitive) To mediate, to be an intermediate.

One of the shorter flight feathers projecting along the inner edge of a bird's wing.

(transitive) To arrange, in the manner of a broker.

(Electricity) A coil or circuit having an induced current.

Lying or being in the middle place or degree, or between two extremes; coming or done between; intervening; interposed; interjacent; as, an intermediate space or time; intermediate colors.

(Astronomy) A celestial body that orbits another; a satellite.

Of or pertaining to an intermediate school; as, intermediate education.

The dimmer star of a binary star.

To come between; to intervene; to interpose.

A secondary color.

A person who intermediates between others, especially in negotiations; an intermediary; a mediator.

(Football) The defensive backfield.

Something that is intermediate.

Next in order to the first or primary; of second place in origin, rank, etc.

A compound which is produced in the course of a chemical synthesis, which is not itself the final product, but is used in further reactions which produce the final product; also called synthetic intermediate, intermediate compound or intermediate product; - contrasted to starting material and end product or final product. There may be many different intermediates between the starting material and end product in the course of a complex synthesis; as, many industrial chemicals are produced primarily to be used as intermediates in other syntheses.

Originating from a deputy or delegated person or body

A substance formed during a chemical process before the desired product is obtained

(organic chemistry) Derived from a parent compound by replacement of two atoms of hydrogen by organic radicals

Act between parties with a view to reconciling differences;

(geology) Produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass.

Lying between two extremes in time or space or degree;

(geology) Developed by pressure or other causes.

Around the middle of a scale of evaluation of physical measures;

(anatomy) Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.

(medicine) Dependent or consequent upon another disease, or occurring in the second stage of a disease.

Of less than primary importance.

(education) Related to secondary education, i.e. schooling between the ages of (approximately) 11 and 18.

(manufacturing) Relating to the manufacture of goods from raw materials.

(of a color) Formed by mixing primary colors.

Representing a reversion to an ancestral state.

(ornithology) Any flight feather attached to the ulna (forearm) of a bird.

(aviation) A radar return generated by the response of an aircraft's transponder to an interrogation signal broadcast by a radar installation, containing additional encoded identification and situational data not available from a simple primary return.

(military) The second stage of a multistage thermonuclear weapon, which generates a fusion explosion when imploded as an indirect result of the fission explosion of the primary, and which, in a few extremely large weapons, itself implodes a fusion tertiary.

(finance) An act of issuing more stock by an already publicly traded corporation.

The defensive backs.

(electronics) An inductive coil or loop that is magnetically powered by a primary in a transformer or similar.

One who occupies a subordinate or auxiliary place; a delegate deputy.

(astronomy) A secondary circle.

(astronomy) A satellite.

(education) A secondary school.

Anything secondary or of lesser importance.

Succeeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin, rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate.

Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as, the work of secondary hands.

Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some operation (as substitution), in the second degree; as, a secondary salt, a secondary amine, etc. Cf. primary.

Subsequent in origin; - said of minerals produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass; also of characters of minerals (as secondary cleavage, etc.) developed by pressure or other causes.

Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.

Dependent or consequent upon another disease; as, Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever.

One who occupies a subordinate, inferior, or auxiliary place; a delegate or deputy; one who is second or next to the chief officer; as, the secondary, or undersheriff of the city of London.

A secondary circle.

A secondary quill.

The defensive football players who line up behind the linemen

Coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil

Of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate;

Inferior in rank or status;

Depending on or incidental to what is original or primary;

Not of major importance;

Belonging to a lower class or rank

Intermediate education focuses on specialized subjects to prepare students for higher education.

Secondary education offers a broader curriculum aimed at general knowledge and skill development.

In many places, entrance exams or specific criteria are needed to enroll in intermediate education programs.

The purpose of secondary education is to provide foundational knowledge across a wide range of subjects, preparing students for either further education or vocational paths.

Assessments in intermediate education are often more rigorous and tailored towards specific subjects, while secondary education assessments focus on a broad range of subjects to ensure comprehensive understanding.

Typical subjects in intermediate education can include more specialized courses based on the stream chosen, such as advanced sciences, commerce, or humanities.

Secondary education typically covers grades 6 through 10 or 7 through 12, depending on the country.

Intermediate education is not compulsory in many educational systems; it often serves as an optional but crucial bridge between secondary schooling and university.

Teaching methods in intermediate education tend to be more focused and might include more discussion-based and research-oriented approaches as compared to the often more standardized methods used in secondary education.

Completing secondary education ensures that a student has attained a necessary level of education to be considered literate and employable in various basic jobs, and it lays the groundwork for further academic or vocational training.