Standardised testing: 12 Saddar schools hold SATs for students

Earlier, similar tests were conducted in Sukkur and Larkana.

KARACHI: Standardised Achievement Tests (SAT), which were completed in Sukkur and Larkana earlier, were held in Karachi starting Friday. The exercise continues will continue till March 12.

The SAT was conducted in 12 government schools in Saddar, including Church Mission School (CMS), Government Boys Primary School Bhimpura, Government Girls Primary School SMB Fatima Jinnah and KMC Boys Primary School. A total of 177 students of classes five and eight took the test, out of which 91 were boys and 86 were girls.



The test covers three sections, Mathematics, Science and Languages, and is conducted in three languages, Urdu, Sindhi and English. The questions are derived from syllabus books and the teachers help their students prepare for the test. Sample tests held in January introduced the students to the test patterns, said Church Mission School principal Imtiaz Ali Bughio.

"The school is conducting exams for other classes while classes five and eight, which were taking the SATs, had their gap today [Friday]," he explained. According to Bughio, the attendance was 100%.

"This is very easy, I know all answers," said a student of class five, who was attempting the test at Church Mission School. She also added that questions are easy and she was well prepared.

Another student who was solving mathematical questions found it easy to solve the test. "I was aware of all methods and formulas that are used to solve these questions," he said.

However, the coordinators faced complaints and concerns when some students originally chose Urdu as the language for the test but wanted to attend the paper in English for Science and Mathematics. "We provide them photocopies of booklets of all languages so they can understand the questions and attempt their tests in any language," explained Hamid Ali Sheikh, a coordinator from Sukkur IBA which is overseeing this exercise across Sindh.

He said they rarely faced such problems. "We cannot give options to a student to attempt all three sections in a different language," he said, adding  that they have a system of checking tests through booklet numbers.

Explaining the test questions and divisions, Sheikh told that students have to answer 78 questions in total.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2016.