Work in pairs to discuss the following questions. Use the Essential Strategy Language.

1) What subjects did you have at school?

2) What subjects did you like studying when at school?

3) Do you agree that all subjects – the arts, sciences, humanities, physical education, languages and maths have equal and central contributions to make to a student’s education?

4) What other subjects might appear in a school curriculum?

EXAMINATIONS AND TESTS

28. a) Look at the pictures below. In pairs discuss if you have ever been in this situation. What did you feel? How did you get to know the results? Were the results what you had expected? What did you feel after learning the results? Do you think that school exams in your country have become easier than they used to be?

b) Listen to the interview with Charlotte and Victor who are waiting for their exam results. Complete the gaps using no more than four words.

A Charlotte:

Charlotte took exams in (1) _____. She feels (2) _____. She wants to study medicine at Cambridge university, and they won’t take her unless she gets (3) _____. She is anxious about (4) _____. She is going to get her results (5) ____. She feels really (6) _____. If she isn’t admitted to Cambridge, she is going to do (7) _____ at school and sit the exams again.

B Viktor:

Victor took (8) _____. He feels quite (9) _____. He is going to get to know his result at school (10) _____. If he has passed he is going (11) _____ with his classmates.

He is going to carry on studying English because he’d like to sit (12) _____

C:

Charlotte got an (13) _____ but only (14) _____ and (15) _____. She is going to contact the university if they’ll still admit her. She is likely (16) ______ again next year. Her parents sympathize with her because she feels very (17) _____.

Viktor feels very (18) _____ because he didn’t expect to get (19) _____.

He is going to celebrate by (20) _____in a bar and _____ together.

29. Read the text. Change the sentences to make them true for the way of your taking exams. Compare your answers with your partner.

Most of the exams Rita takes include both multiple-choice and true-false questions as well as at least one essay question. She has several problems with such tests. She often goes into the test in a state of panic. “As soon as I see a question I can’t answer,” she says, “big chunks of what I do know just fly out the window. I go into an exam expecting to choke and forget.” Another problem is her timing. “Sometimes I spend too much time trying to figure out the answer to tricky multiple-choice or false-true questions. Then I end up with only fifteen minutes to answer two essay questions”. Rita’s greatest difficult is writing essay answers. “Essays are where I always lose a lot of points. Sometimes I don’t read a question the right way, and I wind up giving the wrong answer to the question. When I do understand a question, I have trouble organizing my answer. I’ll be halfway through an answer and then realize that I skipped some material I should have put the start or that I already wrote down something I should have saved for the end. I have a friend who says that essays are easier to study for because she can usually guess what the question will be. I don’t see how this is possible. Essay tests really scare me since I never know what questions are coming”.

30. a) Read the text about examinations held in British schools and fill in the table below.

Examinations and tests in British schools

Under the National Curriculum, all pupils undergo National Curriculum Tests (commonly still referred to by their previous name of Standard Attainment Tests (SATs). Children take SATs when they are 7, 11 and 14, and national examinations, GCSEs at the age of 16. There are four key stages and the children are tested at the end of each key stage but only in the core subjects. At the end of Key Stage 1(7 year olds) pupils are tested on speaking and listening, reading and writing, maths; at the end of

Key Stage 2 (11 year olds) and Key Stage 3 (14 year olds) they sit a test in English, Maths, Science.

SATs are statutory. State schools must report their results however, it is possible for a child to be disapplied from the tests. Many independent schools take SATs but are not obliged to report the results. SATs are not meant to be passed or failed. They are just for teachers to complete assessments to provide information about pupils’ progression in the area. The results from Key Stages 1-3 allow teachers to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of the children. As all children sit these tests schools can use the results to compare how well their pupils are doing when compared with other schools, both locally and nationally.

At the end of Key Stage 4 pupils sit for GCSE examinations which have two levels: General Certificate of Secondary Education Ordinary-level (O-level) and Advanced level (A-level). Most pupils take Ordinary level exams in four subjects. Others take as many as ten or eleven. Pupils who passed their GCSEs may stay at school in the sixth form for another two years and take their A-level exams. The sixth-form curriculum is largely oriented toward preparation for the A-level examination and provides intense specialization. Any student who wants to go to university must pass at least two or three A-levels. Entry to a university requires a prescribed combination of passes on the GCSE and Advanced level in such subjects as English, foreign language, science, and mathematics. A-level results are the gateway to most university and colleges.

Key Stage	Subjects pupils are tested on

b) Think about your school days and discuss what exams Ukrainian pupils have to sit for. Fill in the table for Ukraine.

31. a) Listen to the speaker talking about the reward scheme in Bristol. Complete the sentences using no more than four words.

A-level students were given (1) ______ for getting good exam results. Every student from St. George’s 6^th form was given (2) _____ for having entered the university. Alison Frank, head of 6^th form education, liked the scheme because every student is rewarded (3) ______, not just the best students in the year.

One of the students’ parents considered this scheme to be something like (4) _____ because young people should work hard if they want to do well and to have a good education.

However, David Dobson, head teacher at St. George’s, (5) ______ because more students had got places at university that year than before.

Kelly, a student at St. George’s, was really pleased because she (6) ________. To her mind, it was (7) ______. It had made her work much harder and she was going to buy a new laptop computer with the money.

So, it’s a controversial approach but one that certainly seem to work for some students.

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