Essay On External Examinations

The external examination is a form of evaluation of pupils in primary (4-9th grade) and secondary schools as well as an evaluation of their teachers . It consists of 30 questions with multiple choice answers and is conducted at the end of each school year. The official reasons for introducing the external examination are verifying the teachers’ objectivity in their assessment of the pupils’ learning and checking what the pupils have learned during the whole year . While verifying the teachers’ objectivity may not sound as a bad idea, the external examination is in all probability not the right method to do it. First of all, one cannot expect a teacher’s grade which is a sum of a pupil’s knowledge and activity throughout the year, to match the grade of a multiple choice test at the end of the year because the assessment criteria differ greatly. Second, the negative effect it has on teachers is rather serious as the results from the examination might prevent their professional advancement. Another important issue which arises is the

Namely, the situation for pupils who will get grade (1) on the external examination is quite perplexing. According to the law on secondary schools grade (1) is not considered a passing grade . However, there is no option for pupils who will get grade (1) to re-sit the exam and such a grade will be written in their diplomas . Since the grade is included in their diplomas it affects their score . Consequently, those pupils might not be admitted at some universities which require a higher score, which means that their choice of university gets limited . Moreover, such pupils will not be able to apply to some universities abroad as their documents won’t be considered as a valid proof of finished secondary education, which is a rather serious thing . Evidently, this appears to be another serious issue caused by the external