Changes in United Examination in Mathematics

CHANGES MADE IN ORDER OF CHECKING 3 TASKS OF FINALS AND UNITED
EXAMINATION IN MATHEMATICS

YEREVAN, MAY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The comprehensive school finals and united
university entrance examinations will be held on June 2-17. This year
comprehensive school leavers will take united examinations in "Armenian
Language and Literature", "Mathematics" and "Foreign Languages". Those
who fail to take examinations for good reasons will be allowed to take
them on July 2-10.

The director of the Evaluation and Test Center Manuk Mkrtchian said at
the May 7 press conference that everything possible will be done to
ensure transparency of examinations: the examination process will be
filmed and shown on a monitor, as well as special devices will be used
to prevent the use of mobile phones.

Speaking about the changes in the tasks of math examination, M.
Mkrtchian said that the previous model, by which 1 point instead of 0
was subtracted from the school leaver’s score in case of a wrong
answer, will no longer be used: this applies to the test tasks 17, 18
and 19 which require long answers. They will be multiple-choice: one
answer shall be chosen from 4 versions. No calculators will be allowed
during the examination. "The tasks have been prepared in such a way
that no calculators are needed to solve these problems," he assured
those present.

According to M. Mkrtchian, no changes were made in the other
examinations. The test papers of the united examinations have already
been printed in the UK and will be brought to Armenia in late May,
while the school finals’ tasks have been printed in Yerevan.

No guidebook has been developed for Spanish examination – out of all
the foreign language examinations, so the examination in Spanish will
be conducted based on the principles developed for the tests of the
other languages.

The deadline for changing the application for taking examinations ends
on May 30. This year about 15 thousand people will take exam in
Armenian language and literature, about 9 thousand – math exam, and
about 10 thousand – exam in a foreign language.

The results of the united examinations will be checked by computer at
the Evaluation and Test Center (ETC), while the results of the school
finals – at schools based on the correct answers to be put on the ETC’s
website on the following day.

The director of the center announced that it is envisaged to conduct
some pilot examinations in 4 Armenian marzes in mid May with the aim of
organizing united examinations in the remaining subjects as well next
year. "Pilot exams in natural sciences and other subjects to be held on
May 10-15 will allow us to make decisions related to compilation of
guides and test papers on these subjects. School leavers will be
supplied with these guides at the beginning of next academic year," he
said.