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Examinations
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At Hebron we follow the English education system and sit their public examinations which consist of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced level examinations. These start in Standard 10 when all students take Religious Studies at GCSE level. We have a very high success rate in this subject, and for many students this grade is one of the top grades they gain. In Standard 11, students take 8 or 9 subjects, the compulsory Mathematics, English Language and English Literature and then 5 or 6 subjects chosen from the other subjects. In Std 12, students are expected to take 4 subjects as well as General Studies. They sit AS examinations in their main subjects in June and in General Studies in the November of Standard 13. It is usual for students to only continue with three of their chosen four subjects in Standard 13, to complete a full A level. Occasionally it is possible to pick up another subject at AS level in Standard 13, but this cannot be guaranteed. Historically Hebron has done examinations with various Examination boards. In England there are three different examination boards who all are accredited by a government body to ensure that standards and content are very similar. These are Edexcel, AQA and OCR. Internationally there is also Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) which has a long standing international reputation but is not officially accredited by the same British government body. At Hebron, we do most of our examinations with CIE because they have a good track record, we know some of their local and even British representatives on a personal level and their courses prepare students well for further study and have an excellent international reputation. They are also good value for money. However, we do not do CIE examination for all subjects for the following reasons: · Religious Studies and ICT are not offered by CIE, so we do Edexcel and AQA. · The Language courses offered have far more emphasis on reading and writing than on listening and speaking skills which the MFL department consider very important when teaching a language. · History and Art have changed to Edexcel IGCSE as the course requires less content and we have seen a marked improvement in grades since the change. · Design and Technology at AS/A2 level is only offered in November by CIE, so we have just started doing AQA. · Further Mathematics is only offered as a full A level by CIE and not as AS/A2, which restricts the candidates who can do it. The problem with doing various different boards is that the examinations often clash with each other and are spread over a longer period of time. Several A level examinations and even the odd GCSE examinations are after the end of our term as they fit with the British term which goes well into July. There is nothing we can do about this and it will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. We have absolutely no control over when examinations are timetabled. The examination timetable for this year is published on the website and in the last parents newsletter I informed you all of which exams would take place after the end of term. Therefore, I hope, the correct travel arrangements have been made. Results are sent to us by the different examination boards on different dates. CIE is always the first and appears about August 12th. If students have left the school, we ask them to leave an email address and we email results as soon as feasible. Students who are in school receive results as soon as they are available. Regularly people wish to query results. However this is a very expensive undertaking and at least 90% of the time results in no change of the mark and so we do not often recommend it unless there has been a clear clerical error. For students wishing to continue their studies in India, we have a letter from CIE which confirms how much each grade can be compared to and this can be sent along with Certificates to the appropriate college boards. Certificates often do not arrive with us until the second half of October which can cause problems for some people. In general I prefer not to trust certificates to the Indian post unless absolutely essential and we ask friends/ relatives to take them at the end of term where ever possible. The Cost of Examinations GCSE’s vary from about Rs. 2 700/- to about Rs. 3 200/- per subject. Except for very small entry subjects such as Japanese where the cost is twice as much. Thus a typical student in Standard 11 will have to pay between Rs. 22000/- and Rs. 26 000/-, depending which subjects they take and how many subjects they take. AS examinations vary greatly in price: CIE Rs. 2 300/- AQA Rs. 3 200/- Edexcel Rs. 4 600/- with Music being Rs. 7 000/-. So, in Standard 12, a student would expect to pay between Rs. 9 000/- and Rs 14 000/-, depending on their choice of subjects. In November of Standard 13 they would pay for the one examination and then at the end of the year there would be another Rs. 7 000/- to Rs. 12 000/-. However, in Standard 13, several studies choose to re-sit examinations which clearly will increase the cost. With CIE they must re-sit the full AS, but with AQA and Edexcel it possible just to re-sit one paper. In future parents will be asked for an Examination Advance at the end of the term preceding the examination term. This will be based on the approximate cost of examinations for an average student in that year group. This will occur in each year from Std. 10 to Std. 13.
Catherine Smith, Examination Secretary |