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Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSC)

SSC (Secondary School Certificate Exam) evaluates the students' abilities in Dhivehi Language, Islamic studies and Arabic. SSC exam is targeted for grade 10 students. As the majority of the students leave the school after grade 10, and as a pass in SSC is required for those who seek work or tertiary education, SSC is one of the most important exams in the country.

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Preparations for Question Papers

Question papers are set and moderated by a panel. The panel consists of examiners appointed by the DPE. Those examiners who set the question papers are not allowed to teach these syllabuses to any candidate who sits for this paper, school or private.

The procedure.
A series of meetings are held to set and moderate the questions and the marking scheme for the examination. Each member of the committee will write a certain number of questions and answers and then they go for discussion. The whole paper will be finished within three stages. This will take the duration of one month or more.

Stage one
Preparation of the questions

  1. Phrasing the question.
  2. Discussion on the competency and the target level.
  3. Discussion on the structure of the questions written and rephrasing them if necessary.

Stage two
Preparation of the prescribed answers

  1. Phrasing the answers
  2. Discussion on the agreement of the answers with the questions.
  3. Discussion on the structure of the answers.

Stage three
Preparation for the marking scheme

  1. Writing the structures of the marking scheme. This includes the question in the column one; the prescribed answer in the column two and the allotment of marks with directions to markers in the column three.
  2. Discussion on the agreement of the answerswith the questions.
  3. Discussion on the structure of the answers allotment of marks and guidelines to markers.

Marking

  • Before marking
    1. Sample marking

      2. In this process a panel of examiners will sit together and mark 10 sample papers without discussing with each other; each sample is a photo copy of an original answer script After marking the 10 samples they meet for discussion. During this discussion some amendments would take place to the first draft of the marking scheme and an average marking scheme is devised.

    2. Preparations of examiners.

      3. In this process the examiners will mark copies of the same sample papers marked by the panel. After completion they too go for discussion, (examiners & the panel together).

    3. Preparations of markers.
      Conduct a four day work shop for markers. The objective of this workshop is to train the markers to come to a standard level of marking. In this work shop, markers will be asked to mark 10 answer scripts.(same sample papers marked by the examiners committee).

      • The flrst round
        In this round the markers will mark copies of the same sample papers. They will enter the marks in the mark sheets and the difference will be shown. There will be discussion within the markers and examiners. The paper marked by the examiners will be shown. They will discuss the answers and the differences in marks and they come to an agreement with the marking scheme.

      • The second round
        In this round the papers will be marked according to the given marking scheme. After marking each paper the problems that rose during the marking will be discussed and amendments will be brought to the marking scheme.
        After the workshop the selected markers will be shown through a programme.

  • During Marking

      • The markers will be grouped and one examiner and a group leader will be appointed for each group

    • Moderation of answer scripts

      • Answer scripts are been moderated while marking is going on and on the spot instructions are given to the markers. If the examiners find mistakes made by the marker in marking he will advise the marker to correct those mistakes, within a given time frame. If the markers prove unable to follow the instructions of the examiners he or she may be asked to mark the whole lot of papers again, and examiner then will check the remarked papers, if the examiners find it satisfactory the marker can continue with the marking otherwise the examiner will suggest the authority to look into this matter by a committee of examiners, and if the committee finds the work of the marker as unsatisfactory, he or she may be dismissed.

    • Assessment of markers

      • A tool is been developed to assess the markers on task. In the assessment process a sheet is given to the examiners for every marker, in this sheet marks are given to the markers by 100. Each time he or she makes a mistake a certain amount of his marks is deducted. When it becomes below 40, he or she may be dismissed. This might put an impact on the markers' future selection as a marker by the DPE.