Assessment Matters

1. ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE

The school will provide parents with the schedule, components, and scope of assessment on a termly basis. The tentative termly assessment periods will be shared at the Level Introduction Meetings at the beginning of the year and the termly school letters.

2. ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS

Assessments will be administered at the stipulated time stated in the assessment schedule.
Students are to attend school following the usual school curriculum hours on assessment days. They will not be allowed to come earlier or later to take an assessment.
Students who are late will not be given extra time to complete the assessment.
Students will not be allowed to take the assessment if they are (1) late by 15 mins or more for papers with duration of 1 hour or less, or (2) late by 30 mins or more for papers with duration of more than 1 hour.

2.1 Before the start of the assessment

Students must:

bring all necessary materials needed for the assessment. They include pens, 2B pencils, erasers, rulers, sharpeners, mathematical instruments, and any other materials as advised by the teacher.
listen to the instructions given by the teacher/invigilator conducting the assessment carefully.
read the instructions on the question booklets/answer booklets carefully.
raise their hands if they have questions to ask the teacher/invigilator.

2.2 During the assessment

Students must:

read the questions and write and/or shade their answers on the Optical Answer Sheet (OAS) within the duration of each assessment paper. No extra time will be given for questions unanswered.
use a soft-lead pencil (i.e., 2B) to shade answers for multiple choice questions (MCQs) on the OAS provided. Answers to MCQs that are written on the question booklets will not be marked.
ensure they do not fold the OAS or make any other marks on it.
use a soft eraser to completely erase the wrongly shaded oval before shading the new oval.
write answers legibly. If answers need to be changed, erase the writing done with pencil or cross out writing done with pen, and rewrite the answers.
read all questions carefully. No marks will be awarded for information that is not asked for in the questions.
manage their time well. Do not spend too much time on a few questions, leaving no time for others.
remain seated and raise their hand to inform the teacher/invigilator if they feel unwell or need to go to the washroom urgently. Students are generally not encouraged to go to the washroom during assessments.

Students must not:

cheat or assist in cheating.
bring bags, books, papers, notes, mobile phones, computerised wrist watches or other unauthorised personal belongings (such as MP3 player, digital camera, etc) into the classroom. Such items should be placed outside the classroom or a place identified by the teacher/invigilator. Any student found to be in possession of any unauthorised material is liable to the same penalty as those who are caught cheating during the examination.
talk or communicate (verbally or non-verbally) with other students during the assessment unless permitted by the teacher.
leave the classroom even if the assessment is completed before the given time.
remove any used or unused writing paper, question booklet, answer booklet or OAS from the classroom.

2.3 At the end of the assessment

Students must:

stop writing immediately when told to do so by the teacher/invigilator.
remain quietly seated until the question booklets/answer booklets/OAS have been collected.

3. CHEATING AND MISCONDUCT DURING ASSESSMENT

Students are not allowed to continue the assessment and the assessment results may be forfeited if they

cheat;
attempt to cheat;
assist in cheating; or
do not follow the assessment regulations during assessment;

Disciplinary action will also be taken against candidates who are involved in assessment malpractice.

4. USE OF DICTIONARIES DURING ASSESSMENT

Students are allowed to use a dictionary for the Mother Tongue Languages, Higher Mother Tongue Languages and Non-Tamil Indian Languages (NTIL) Paper 1 (Composition).

For students taking Chinese Language and Malay Language, they are also allowed to use a hand-held electronic dictionary for the Mother Tongue Language and Higher Mother Tongue Language Paper 1 (Composition).

Dictionaries and electronic dictionaries must conform to the following requirements:

only monolingual dictionaries are allowed;
dictionaries used must not have any annotations on any of the pages. Annotations include tagging pages with stickers, highlighted text and/or written text;
electronic dictionaries must be silent and battery operated. Ear-pieces are not permitted;
only approved dictionaries in the SEAB list below may be used.

SEAB - Approved Dictionaries

All previously approved dictionaries, including those that no longer appear on the current approved list, can continue to be used for the national examinations unless there is a change in policy, syllabus, or examination format. Under any of these situations, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) may withdraw the approval for use of these dictionaries in the examinations.

For students offering Non-Tamil Indian Languages (NTIL), there is no approved list of dictionaries. They can bring in any dictionary as long as it is monolingual with no annotations on any of the pages.

Students are not allowed to borrow any dictionary from other students during the assessment.

Students are advised to bring along a spare set of batteries for their electronic dictionary as no extra time will be given if their dictionary fails to function during the assessment.

Stylus that comes with these approved e-dictionaries can be used in examinations.

Any unauthorised material or dictionary found in students’ possession during the assessment will be confiscated.

5. USE OF SCIENTIFIC CALCULATORS DURING ASSESSMENT

Students are allowed to use a scientific calculator for Mathematics/Foundation Mathematics Paper 2.

The following guidelines are to be adhered to in the use of calculators in examinations:

The calculator must be silent, with a visual display only.
The working condition of the calculator (including the power supply) is the responsibility of the candidates and any fault in the calculator will not be considered as justification for special consideration.
Candidates are not allowed to share calculators during the examination.
No calculators with an external storage function which can allow users to input and store data via external storage media, e.g., cards, tapes, and plug-in modules, are allowed.
No calculators with wireless communication capability with other machines, e.g., infra-red communication capability, are allowed.
Any enclosed instruction leaflets containing any mathematical formula, conversion table or instructions are strictly prohibited, and must not be taken into the examination venue. Any such information on the calculator that cannot be removed must be securely covered.
The original model number and brand must be indicated clearly on the calculator for verification purposes.
No calculators with capabilities for storing and displaying verbal information are allowed.

Additional guidelines for scientific calculators

No programmable calculators are allowed.
No calculators with permanent features of a programmed kind are allowed, e.g., calculators capable of numerical integration and/or numerical differentiation.

Please refer to the following list from SEAB for the approved calculators.

SEAB - Approved Calculators

6. STUDENTS WHO ARE UNWELL ON DAY OF ASSESSMENT

Students should generally not take the assessments should they be unwell. Students who test positive for COVID but are well with no symptoms can return to school to sit for assessments.

Students with mild symptoms (symptoms that do not unduly affect the overall well-being of the student taking the assessment as well as others taking the assessment) may be allowed to take the assessments, subjected to the school’s approval. Students with less mild symptoms (e.g.,regular sneezing and coughing) will not be allowed to take the assessments as it could be disruptive in an assessment setting and the school will contact his/her parents to fetch him/her home. The school will make the final decision as to whether a student can be permitted to take the assessments taking into consideration the needs of all students.

For students with a fever detected i.e., a temperature above 37.6°C, the school will contact his/her parents to fetch him/her home. While waiting, the child will be brought to the sick bay. Students with fever will not be allowed to sit for assessments.

Teachers will also check that students who are supposed to be on medical leave do not remain in school to take the assessments. Students on medical leave must adhere to the period of excuse given.

The school requests that parents co-operate and assist in this matter. Insisting that a child comes or remains in school when he/she is unwell may mean that he/she is exposing the other students in the class to the infection he/she has contracted. This is against the principle of social responsibility which we constantly try to impart to our students, and it will confuse the child.

It is also in the child’s best interest not to be in school when he/she is unwell. He/She will not be able to focus and do well for the tests he/she is taking due to illness. He/she needs to stay home to rest. The marks he/she scores may not be a fair reflection of his/her true ability.

7. ABSENCE FROM ASSESSMENT

Students who are absent will be given the assessment papers as practice and the marks will not be included in the overall mark computation.

Only the following are considered as valid reasons for absences during assessments:

medical reasons supported by a medical certificate (MC) from a doctor. MCs from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners are not accepted except if the TCM clinic is under the purview of a hospital.
Photo evidence of being COVID+ taken on day of assessment (e.g., ART+)
bereavement of family members.
any other reason deemed valid by the school.

A medical certificate or relevant evidence/documentation (e.g., copy of the death certificate) must be given to the form teacher when the student returns to school to support his/her absence.

All other reasons will be considered on a case-by-case basis subject to the school’s approval.

For students who are absent for an assessment without a valid reason, a zero mark will be considered for that assessment and this assessment mark will be considered in the computation of the subject and overall total.

8. ASSESSMENT MAKE-UP

All assessments will follow the stated day and time in the assessment schedule. There is no assessment make-up for students who are absent except for individual performance tasks (not including GEP assessment) that span over a period and oral assessment, and the make-up will only be considered for students with valid reason for absence. There is no make-up for group performance tasks. If an assessment has make-up provisions, the school will decide the date for the make-up.