Educational entrance examination

An entrance examination is an examination that educational institutions conduct to select prospective students for admission. It may be held at any stage of education, from primary to tertiary, even though it is typically held at tertiary stage.

This article is about educational aspects. For government hiring aspects, see Civil service entrance examination. For other aspects, see Competitive examination.

By country

France

France is the country that surely uses the most competitive examinations. Some education professionals tend to say that the "Concours Général" (not mandatory, as the Baccalauréat is) in the last year of High School (Lycée) is the most difficult to take worldwide with only 250 places in all subjects for 15,000 applicants[1] (there is a failure rate of 98.3%). There are also an entrance competitive examination in order to enter medicine studies: (1 preparation year, 10 mandatory years after competitive exam, failure rate of 85%); "grandes écoles" of engineering (2 preparation years, 4 mandatory years after competitive exam, failure rate of approx. 50%), and "grandes écoles" of business (2 preparation years, 3 mandatory years after competitive exam, failure rate of approx. 25%). In France, the fact of having succeeded in one competitive exam is highly recognized by the society, and shows you are part of the national elite.

India
For different systems of syllabi, testing and grading refer to the different systems of Indian Education and Grading

In India, entrance examinations are chiefly confined to medicine, engineering, and management. These range from the BITS Pilani admission test and IIT-JEE where only one in a hundreds can hope to get admission to state level entrances which are many and varied. The stiff competition has led to a situation where many students neglect their school studies and focus solely on 'entrance coaching' which is time-consuming and expensive. This has led many states to scrap the entrances and base admissions on the school leaving marks which, unfortunately are none too reliable. Experts point out that in a country where many different boards are present common entrances are essential, but application skills rather than cramming should be stressed on. Frequent changes in the pattern of examination are essential since sticking to a 'standard text' or 'standard pattern' alone will favour the coaching industry and the rote-learners.

Entrance Examinations in India trace their roots to the University of Calcutta, which when established in 1857, introduced the practice to decide eligibility for admission. In that exam, one student was passed in every four candidates. From Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka only 219 students were qualified. Only 162 were passed from the Bangladesh, Pakistan, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhaya Pradesh.[2] In the absence of a standardized school graduation examination, the University's entrance examinations were used as a substitute, known later as Matriculation examinations. Post-independence India has different systems of education whose syllabus and examination process are governed by both central and state-based statutory boards. Grades 10 and 12 which mark the culmination of secondary and higher secondary education, have standardized final examinations, referred to as the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination after grade 10 (class X) and the Higher Secondary Examination(HSC) after grade 12th.

United Kingdom

One-half of British universities have lost confidence in the grades that are awarded by secondary schools, and require many applicants to sit for a competitive entrance examination or other aptitude test. According to the Schools Minister, “strong evidence has been emerging of grade inflation across subjects” in recent years.[3]

COVID-19 Impact

Due to coronavirus presence in many countries which embraced school closures either on state or national scale, some entrance examinations for high schools were eventually cancelled to reduce the stress of students and the possibility of coronavirus infection impact during the attendance.

See also

References
  1. Éduscol. "Concours général des lycées et des métiers – Organisation du concours général des lycées – Éduscol". eduscol.education.fr (in French). Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  2. "Three Stages of Education (in Bengali)". The Daily Prothom Alo. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  3. Paton, Graeme (2012-07-13). "More students forced to sit university admissions tests". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
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