Examinations at Precious

This week at Precious the children have been working very hard preparing for their exams. There were three days of exams in total including: English, Maths, Kiswahili, science and C.R.E (Religious Studies).

The exams began on Friday with Maths and English in the morning. The exams lasted for between 30 minutes to two hours. A typical examination routine would be to slit the class into readers and non-readers. The readers would remain in the classroom with one volunteer teacher, whilst the other teacher would take the non-readers somewhere quiet, probably outside. To enable the non-readers to achieve a better result in the exams,the volunteer would read them the question and the four multiple choice options. Some students may also need one to one assistance with their exams to stop them from any distractions.

Then on Friday afternoon all the students sat a final exam paper. Standards 1,2 and 3 had a reading exam, where they read a passage to their teachers and are marked on pronunciation. However, standards 4,5 and 6 write a 'Composition' instead. Some examples of the themes set are "My Favorite Holiday" and "A Visit to My Uncle's Home". The students are allowed forty minutes to write their composition and are marked out of forty for accuracy, fluency and imagination.

Once the exams have been completed by all the students, the teachers have to begin the task off marking the exams and calculating percentages. Most exams come with a marking scheme which tells you the right answers. However, composition marking is a little more tricky as you have to use your own judgement.

The exams concluded on Tuesday of this week and it was time for staff and students alike to begin to unwind for the end of term. The last three days of this week were geared towards educational but fun activities, and the children definitively deserve it after all their hard work.

Natasha, December 2011

Examinations at Precious