26 9 月, 2021

Students in quarantine or on approved Covid-19 absence may still take national exams: MOE

SINGAPORE - Quarantined students are allowed to take their national examinations this year if they wish to, subject to stringent criteria, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) in a statement on Sunday (Sept 26). They have to test negative for Covid-19 with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at the start of the quarantine order, and complete a self-swab with antigen rapid test (ART) kits at home and test negative within 24 hours before each examination paper. Travel arrangements to their exam venue must be by private transport or on foot, with no stops between their place of residence and exam venue. The schools have to be informed that they are taking the particular paper so the exam venue can be prepared. Other measures include: The rooms used for quarantined candidates will be separate from the rest of the cohort and will be thoroughly wiped down after the exams. The students will be seated 3m apart in exam-style seating and have designated entry and exit points and restrooms. They will start the exams 30 minutes after the scheduled start time for the rest of the cohort. These measures will ensure the safety of candidates and invigilators, MOE said. The arrangements are different from last year's restrictions, which did not allow candidates in quarantine to sit exams. The changes apply to the Primary School Leaving Examination as well as the N-, O- and A-level exams. Those who are positive for Covid-19 or on stay-home notice are still not allowed to sit exams this year. If a quarantined PSLE candidate needs to be accompanied to the exam venue, an accompanying family member or caregiver, if also in quarantine, is subjected to the same restrictions as the student. Those on approved absence due to mandatory testing by the Ministry of Health or who are under health risk warnings are also allowed to sit the exams if the PCR test at the start of the absence was negative and their regular ART self-swabs are negative. Those on leave of absence are also allowed if supervised ART tests, done in regular intervals, are negative. More on this topic Related Story HBL for primary schools until Oct 7; tuition to move online Related Story Parents anxious over rise in Covid-19 cases among children but attendance normal at pre-schools, tuition centres How grades will be derived MOE and SEAB said that similar to previous years, candidates who miss national exams with valid reasons such as Covid-19 can apply for special consideration. They will be awarded projected grades that take into consideration multiple sources of data, such as the candidate's performance in other papers for that subject and the school cohort's performance, in national and school-based exams. If the student misses all the components of the subject's exam, such as the PSLE mathematics paper, the SEAB will take into consideration the student's school preliminary examination results for the subject to determine his relative rank among peers in his school cohort. This position will then be used to derive his projected mark from the school cohort's performance in the PSLE, based on the mark that corresponds to this relative rank. The mark will then be used to derive the final score. If a candidate misses one or more papers of a subject, the SEAB will look at the student's performance in the papers he has taken to derive a projected outcome for the subject, and also take into consideration the student's performance in the school preliminary exams. MOE said it will provide details of the requirements and application procedure at a later date. See the arrangements for affected candidates here.

18 9 月, 2021

No retest despite complaints about N-level listening comprehension audio quality: SEAB

SINGAPORE - N-level students who took the English listening comprehension examination on Monday (Sept 13) will not get to re-sit the exam despite negative public feedback on the audio quality. In response to queries from The Straits Times, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said on Saturday (Sept 18) it was aware of feedback relating to the audibility of the national examination and the accents of those reading the GCE Normal (Academic) Level English Language Listening Comprehension examination. More than 1,400 people have signed a petition on the Change.org petition website calling for the examination to be repeated for reasons including a muffled soundtrack and strong accents. N-level exam results determine a student's admissibility into polytechnic, the Institute of Technical Education and junior college. Among the students who sat the exam was Bryan, 16, from St Patrick's School, who declined to give his last name. The Secondary 4 student told ST that he had been sitting in front of the speaker but struggled to answer the questions because the recording was "glitchy", making the sentences sound incomplete. He said: "After the first audio (clip), the whole class asked (the teachers) to increase the volume but all they said was that it was already (at) the highest (volume)setting... I don't know why SEAB wants us to understand another accent as if we are going overseas to study." He added that the teacher was also unwilling to replay the recording. SEAB told ST that candidates could request for the audio volume to be increased and audio tracks to be replayed, where necessary. It noted that the audibility of the broadcast audio could have been affected by "environmental factors such as rain, roadworks and turning fans" because schools were advised to keep the classroom windows open and fans switched on as part of safe management measures. Regarding the concerns raised about the speakers' accents, SEAB said the text readers in this year's examination are Singaporeans who speak internationally acceptable English and who have featured in national examinations in the past few years. Said the statutory board: "Varying voice qualities such as pace, volume and intonation will also be used to ensure that the audio texts are delivered authentically. "In addition, the words used in the respective national listening comprehension examinations' audio texts are accessible to candidates of their intended level." It added that this year's examination was recorded "based on established technical standards, and the tracks have undergone a series of checks by a panel of experienced specialists from the SEAB and the Ministry of Education" to ensure alignment with syllabus objectives. More on this topic Related Story Students to get instant feedback on English assignments with new AI system Related Story S'pore govt to spend $3.8b on ICT, including school auto-marking system The board assured candidates that "there are processes in place to ensure that they are fairly assessed". Upon hearing that there will be no retest, Bryan said: "It's fine if they don't but they should at least consider (our concerns about audio problems) while marking." ST has asked SEAB about how it intends to ensure the examinations are fairly assessed.