Newspaper clipping – iol website – 09 February 2009

Matric exams were up to standard – experts

The 2008 senior certificate maths examination papers were up to standard, the national department of education said on Monday.
            “A panel of maths experts has found that maths papers in the 2008 national senior certificate exam were up to standard,” read a statement.

Education Minister Naledi Pandor asked a panel of experts to investigate the standard of the maths papers, after there was skepticism at the increase in the number of successful candidates from 28 000 in 2007 to 63 035 in 2008.

The panel found that learners who scored 50 percent and more in 2008 would have passed mathematics higher grade with a score of 40 percent or more in the past.
            “Matriculants who passed maths 50 percent or more can confidently be compared to those who passed maths on the higher grade in previous years,” said Arnout Brombacher, chair of the panel.

However, they found that there was a lack of differentiation at the level of A and B in the exam. A and B symbols in maths were good predictors of success in engineering, architecture and business science. - Sapa