Long live the vacations! A little, a lot or hardly at all… Today, July 14, most students are taking a relaxing break from school, but for many, classes and revisions continue as they prepare for the end-of-cycle exams. In just a few weeks’ time.
The PSAC exams begin with the Modular Assessment on August 28 and 29, 2023, with the Science and History & Geography tests from 9 to 10 a.m. respectively. On Thursday, October 26, students will take part in the French test. On October 27, it’s the turn of the English paper. The Oriental languages, Kreol Morisien and Kreol Rodrigues papers will be held on Monday October 30. The PSAC exams will end with the Mathematics paper on Tuesday October 31. The papers scheduled between October 26 and 31 will be held from 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
NCE results on December 1
The Modular Assessment for Grade 5 students will take place on Tuesday September 26, with Science papers from 9 to 10 a.m. and History-Geography papers from 11 a.m. to noon. The PSAC Assessment papers in Science and History-Geography for private candidates and Grade 5 students will take place on Thursday October 26 and Monday October 30 from noon to 1:45 pm respectively. The National Certificate of Education (NCE) examinations will be held on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 September, Wednesday 4, Friday 6, Monday 9, Tuesday 10 and Friday 13 October 2023. NCE exam results are expected to be published on Friday December 1, 2023.
SC and HSC exams
Middle school students in Grades 11 and 13 will take part in the School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations respectively from October 3. These will be the first exams since the return to the old school calendar. A return to Cambridge Pre-Covid standards has been announced. In other words, marking will be more severe, and there will be no Special Consideration linked to the pandemic, as was the case in 2021 and 2022.
The tests will start on October 3 for SC candidates with the French test. The written exams generally follow the practical tests held a few days earlier. Candidates taking Hindi and French Literature will sit their exams one day earlier, on October 2. The various subjects will continue until mid-November. Additional Mathematics is scheduled for October 6, English for October 10, Computer Science and Maths Syllabus D, Paper 1 for October 11.
At HSC level, candidates registered for the Urdu will sit their exams on October 3. Subjects will then be staggered, with French on October 4, Hindi on October 6, Physics on October 9 and Travel and Tourism on October 10, among others. The HSC exams will finish in mid-November.
Kreol Morisien on board
Kreol Morisien’s Specimen Papers for the first edition of the National School Certificate were distributed to colleges. This enabled teachers to use them to prepare for the Mock Exams. The first observation is that the questionnaire – in three separate tests – is aligned with that of the other languages on the syllabus, particularly French. Candidates will be assessed on writing, comprehension and translation.
The first Kreol Morisien (KM) examinations for the National School Certificate will be held in October/November, but the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (MES) has not yet announced the examination dates for KM. In addition, the National School Certificate (NSC) in Kreol Morisien will be extended to “private candidates”, i.e. those not taking the exams at school. The MES has just issued a communiqué on this subject, inviting the candidates concerned to register.
Admission to Grade 7: Parents expected in schools next week
As part of the Grade 7 secondary school registration exercise for January 2024, parents of students in Grades 6 and 5, taking part in the PSAC 2023 exams, are expected to attend their children’s schools. Parents of Extended Programme Grade 7 students will also be invited by the school principal to a meeting to explain the enrolment procedures and the admissions exercise. Parents must complete the registration forms and return them to the school principal no later than Friday, August 4, 2023.
