Arrangements in Place for GSAT Sitting Next Week

The Ministry of Education has disclosed that a total of 38,470 students are confirmed to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) on Thursday, March 26 and Friday, March 27, 2015 in 1112 centres across the island. There are 18,492 female and 16,804 male candidates, while 3174 registered and eligible students have deferred sitting the examination this year.

Chief Education Officer, Dr Grace McLean has indicated that the only schools that will be closed during the holding of the GSAT examinations are those that will require additional space to accommodate all students at the same time.

She stated that all schools with adequate capacity will remain open and supervised by their class teachers. Schools also have been advised to use the two days as relevant for field trips and other educational opportunities.

Students sitting the GSAT will be tested in the critical areas of the primary school curriculum; namely Mathematics, Social Studies, Language Arts, Science and Communication Tasks. Students will sit Mathematics and Social Studies on Thursday; and Language Arts, Communication Task, and Science on Friday. Special arrangements have been made to facilitate special needs students sitting the examination.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education encourages students to:

• Focus on doing their best
• Ensure that they have pencils and an eraser to complete the tests
• Follow the instructions of the examiners
• Answer all the questions on each test in the time allotted

Advice to Parents

In addition, parents of students sitting the GSAT are advised to:

• Remain calm
• Support, rather than pressure the students
• Ensure that students are well rested
• Make plans for students to have a nutritious breakfast and a snack during the two days of the examination
• Ensure that students arrive at the examination centre on time
• Leave the examination centre before the tests begin

Student Placement

The Ministry wishes to remind everyone that the placement of students is largely automated and done on the basis of performance and in relation to each student’s choice.  The system is an objective one in which students’ performance is ranked by their standard composite scores starting with the student with the highest score. Ranking then moves to the next highest score right down until the last child is placed. If all spaces within the student’s five choices are exhausted, placement proceeds on the basis of the relevant school’s Secondary Preference List and if absolutely necessary, manually, on the advice of Education Officers.

It is anticipated that results of the GSAT will be available in June as scheduled.

GSAT Hotlines

In order to ensure quick and easy access to information, the Ministry has activated the customary telephone hotlines as follows: