THE SCHOOL YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 87, 9 October 1935, Page 6

THE SCHOOL YEAR

AN IMPORTANT PERIOD

APPROACHING EXAMINATIONS

The midnight oil is now being burnt in thousands of homes throughout the Dominion, for next month is examination month for pupils in schools and university colleges. The annual examinations conducted by the Education Department will be held towards the end of November. The. series comprise the intermediate examination commencing on November 20, the Training College entrance examination on ■ November . 22, the technological examinations on November 25, and the school certificate Examination on November 28. The intermediate examination is taken by pupils of post-primary schools at the end of the second year of their post-primary course, and it serves as a qualification for the award of senior free; places which are tenable until the pupils reach the age of 19. The majority of post-primary pupils qualify for senior free places by recommendations from the principals of their schools. These recommendations are based on the records of the pupils' school work and on the results of term examinations conducted by their teachers. The intermediate examination provides an opportunity, for qualification of a number of pupils who are technically or otherwise ineligible to be accredited for senior free places. The Training College entrance examination is, as its name implies, an examination by which pupils qualify for admission to training colleges or, in other words, to the. teaching profession. The examination covers nine subjects, candidates being required to pass in all niiie subjects in order to secure a complete pass and to pass in seven subjects to obtain a partial pass. A partial pass is accepted as a sufficient examination qualification for entrance to a/training, college. TRADE EXAMINATIONS. : The technological examinations are trade examinations in those, subjects for which .instructional facilities are provided in the technical schools. In the majority of subjects the examinations are held .in three" grades—preliminary, Intermediate, and final, the course being intended to cover practically the whole period of a candidate's apprenticeship. Candidates are admitted to the examinations only after serving prescribed "periods" of apprenticeship, increasing according to the grade of examination. The subjects include plumbing, carpentry and joinery, cabinet making, engineering trades, motor mechanics work, electrical fitting and wiring, painting and decorating, and building construction. In a number, of subjects practical tests are included. Additional trade examinations were held by the Department earlier in the year on behalf of the City and Guilds of London Institute; The candidates' work in these examinations is examined in England, The principal subject is electrical engineering. The school certificate examination is the second to be held under the regulations adopted in 1934. This examination is taken by pupils of postprimary schools at the end of the third year of their secondary school courses. The standard is that of the university entrance examination, but the choice of subjects is much wider so" as to cover the diiferent courses provided in the several types of secondary and technical schools: For those* Subjects which are common to both, the school certificate and the. university entrance examinations, the papers; set are those for the latter examination. The school certificate examination .enables' pupils to obtain an examination qualification equivalent to that of matriculation without the restrictions so far as; the choice of subjects is concerned which the latter imposes. The only compulsory subject, for the examination .is English, and candidates are required to pass in this.and four other subjects in order to obtain a complete pass, and to pass in any four subjects to secure a partial pass.' UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS. For the University of New Zealand examinations, which will also be held in -November, the following is the order of examination:—Honours, senior and Tinlinev scholarships, degrees in arts, science,, law, medicine, engineering; agriculture, architecture, commerce, music and= home science, certificates of proficiency and diplomas, law and accountancy profesisonal, banking, and insurance. Examinations' will be conducted iri seventy centres in the Dominion, .from Kaitaia in the far north to Invercargill in the south.