Baccalaureate tests under lock and key

The Ministry of Education returned to the idea of holding the Baccalaureate exams in other high schools than those where the candidates study. This time, the exams will take place in classrooms, not gymnasiums or festivity halls. As last year, the tests will be personalized. “As a result of discussions, it was decided that the students should take the exams in conditions similar to the ordinary ones, i.e. in classrooms for at most 30 student,” the head of the Chisinau Division of Education, Youth and Sport Tatiana Nagnibeda-Tverdohleb told Info-Prim Neo. Every student will have a personalized test different from those of the classmates. According to the deputy head of the Assessment and Examination Agency Valentina Miron, the move is aimed a preventing cheating. “The tests will be distributed to the high schools from the commercial bank that will win the tender contest for keeping them,” Miron said. “The competing banks must keep state securities and have branches all over the country. Such a decision was taken in a move to avoid situations when the exams fail because the tests cannot be accessed from the computer, as last year.” No rerun baccalaureate sessions will be held this year. The students who will not pass an exam, will be able to take that exam again in a year. Additional sessions will be organized only for the students who will be taking part in world competitions during the exams. The tests will be checked by two teachers and will be sent back to the school so that the students can see them and challenge the grade within 48 hours if they consider necessary. The high school graduates take exams in mathematics (for exact sciences students), geography (for humanities students), the language of study (Romanian/Russian/Bulgarian/Ukrainian/Turkish) and a foreign language. The Baccalaureate exams will last for three hours.