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Grade 4 Literacy/Numeracy Tests June 29

June 17, 2010

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Preparations are in high gear for the administration of the Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy Tests on June 29 in primary schools, islandwide.
Acting Assistant Chief Education Officer in charge of Student Assessment, Dr. Sephlin Myers-Thomas, explained that there should be no delays with the exam.
“We are at this stage readying ourselves for the administration in terms of preparing and packaging the tests, and also ensuring that the registration data are correct. We are confident that we will be ready and able to administer the exams, there should be no delays,” she emphasised during an interview with JIS News Wednesday (June 16).
According to the Acting Assistant Chief Education Officer some 57,000 students will sit the literacy exam.
“Approximately 57,000 students [will sit] the literacy examination.this number would include those students who are sitting for the first time in 2010 and those who are re-sitting from the 2009 examinations. Of that number, approximately 11,000 are re-sits,” Dr. Myers-Thomas explained, while noting that the number varies for the numeracy exam.
“The numeracy has approximately 52,000; the difference is that the students are not re-sitting at this time. It is a policy of the Ministry not to have them re-sit the numeracy test, as it is not considered at this time, the competency based for transitioning to the other grades,” she added.
Dr. Myers-Thomas further explained that the papers for both exams will be structured in different sections.
“For the literacy examination, it is a three section paper; one section is for word recognition that has 40 items; the reading comprehension is another section with 30 items; and the writing activity has two items. For the numeracy, there are two sections; section one consists of 46 multiple choice items and section two has three open ended questions for the students to answer. The open ended questions allow the students to apply the skills and concepts they have learnt in solving a problem,” she informed.
In the meantime, the Acting Assistant Chief Education Officer is encouraging students to revise what they have been taught and remain focused.
“I would love to say to the students that they just need to revise the concepts they have been learning, because this is really coming out of their Grade Four experiences. They must try and focus their thoughts and answer what they are asked. They are to listen to the examiners, because this examination is going to be administered by persons independent of the particular school,” she noted.
“[Students] are to try and complete all the answers, if anything poses a challenge, then I advise them to leave that difficulty and move on and do the ones that seem to be easier for them, and then get back to the ones that pose the challenges. They are to try and complete all the questions, get some rest and be themselves,” she emphasised.
The literacy exam will take place in the morning of June 29 with the numeracy in the afternoon. The test is scheduled to be marked in July with results expected by the middle of August.

Last Updated: August 15, 2013

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