Prognostic value of university entrance examinations in Scotland.

Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Prognostic value of university entrance examinations in Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/140 (page 13)
    referred to a Chief Inspector. The whole procedure aims at retaining the objectivity of a written examination, while reducing the element of chance to which all written examinations are liable. It should be added that in all subjects except English there are two grades, higher and lower; and that every candidate must be presented in English and at least three other subjects, of which one at least must be on the higher grade.! The University Preliminary Examination is an external examination conducted by written tests. In Latin, Greek, and Mathematics (but in no other subject) there are two standards, the lower being somewhat below the lower grade of the Leaving Certificate Examination in these subjects. Moreover, there is some prescribed workin languages, whereas the Leaving Certificate tests are all unseen. But the standard of the two examinations is intended to be, and in effect is, the same. If, nevertheless, teachers have till recently regarded the Preliminary Examination as the easier of the two, the reason lies partly in the differences just mentioned, but mainly in the fact that the Preliminary Examination can be passed at two sittings, while the Leaving Certificate, till recently, had to be passed at one sitting. Since 1932, however, the Department have permitted a candidate to be presented in his fourth or a later year in one subject on the lower grade; if he passes, his pass is credited to him. In another respect also there has recently been approximation. Until 1932 the Entrance Board held two Preliminary Examinations each year, one in spring and one in autumn, the spring examination being held about a fortnight before the Leaving Certificate. The spring examination and the Leaving Certificate Examination are now held simultaneously, and the same papers are used in both in all subjects which are common to them.? The following table shows the part that the Leaving Certificate plays in Scottish education, and its importance as a means of admission to the Scottish Universities. 1 Throughout this investigation the pass mark for the Leaving Certificate was taken to be 50 per cent. In the University which supplied the data for this investigation the pass mark for the Ordinary Degree and Second Course is 50 per cent., but the pass mark for a Cognate subject is 60 per cent. 2 No passage for dictation, however, is given in Modern Languages in the Preliminary Examination. In Physical Science the Scottish Universities Entrance Board does not accept the combination Physics and Chemistry. Candidates in Physical Science must take Dynamics and Physics, or Dynamics and Chemistry.