Institute holds senior school certificate awareness meet

Officials from the Evaluation Institute’s Qatar Senior School Certificate Office today met with embassy attaches, schools’ representatives and staff from the Advising & Career Development Center at the Higher Education Office to provide details of the Qatar Senior School Certificate (QSSC). Mr. Fahad Al Neama made a PowerPoint presentation on the objectives, principles, characteristics and components of the QSSC at the meeting held at the Regency Hall.

The Qatar Senior School Certificate (QSSC) is an official national certificate issued to students on completion of Grade 12 studies at independent schools in Qatar. It is endorsed and approved by the Secretary-General of the Supreme Education Council (SEC).

The tests measure what the students have gained and learned, through “external tests” administered by the Evaluation Institute, and “internal assessment activities” administered by the teacher under the supervision of the school, to ensure constructive and comprehensive assessment. In short, it measures the basic skills and abilities acquired by students during their schooling, and are based on the curriculum standards set by the Supreme Education Council

The external tests prepared by the Evaluation Institute will be allocated 70% while the internal school assessments will be allocated 30% of the total score.

This year, the students’ skills and abilities will be tested in eight content areas - Islamic Studies, Social Sciences, Arabic Language, English as a Second Language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Each subject will have a minimum pass level and to obtain a secondary school certificate, the student must pass all subjects.

Both Mathematics and Science tests will be in English, including Arabic translation, and the answer will be in the language the student chooses on the side of the questions paper written in English. The test includes multiple choice questions as well as essay questions and questions that require short answers, depending on the nature of the subject. Duration of each test is four hours.

The internal assessments will include three tests (multiple choice, short answers and essay answers) and one research project. The QSSC unit supervises and monitors the internal activities for each school to ensure they follow the standards set by the SEC

Dates for the external QSSC exam will be announced later.