bopst
05/09/05, 07:03 AM
LONDON (AFP) - Students in England can get extra points on their final exams if their close relatives or pets die, according to official guidelines.
Students sitting a GSCE or A-level examination -- the equivalent of junior and senior high school exams in other countries -- will get a maximum extra five percent for the recent death of a parent or close family member.
The passing of a more distant family member could add four percent to the final grade.
An extra two percent awaits students whose pet dies on examination day, going down to one percent if the pet died the day before.
Witnessing a distressing event on examination day is worth an extra three percent, as is a freshly broken limb or asthma attack. Suffering from hay fever merits two percent, and a headache one percent.
The guidelines were drawn up by Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents the three exam boards in England.
"The number of extra marks available are actually rather small, and in most cases they do not change the final grade," said Claire Ellis of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, one of the exam boards.
But the guidelines were lambasted by Campaign for Real Education, a pressure group, whose chairman Nick Seaton said: "This panders to the growing attitude in society that there is an excuse for everything."
"Of course, there are circumstances when a pupil might be particularly distressed and a teacher can scribble a note on the exam paper... but formalising and quantifying excuses in this way sends out the wrong message."
Students sitting a GSCE or A-level examination -- the equivalent of junior and senior high school exams in other countries -- will get a maximum extra five percent for the recent death of a parent or close family member.
The passing of a more distant family member could add four percent to the final grade.
An extra two percent awaits students whose pet dies on examination day, going down to one percent if the pet died the day before.
Witnessing a distressing event on examination day is worth an extra three percent, as is a freshly broken limb or asthma attack. Suffering from hay fever merits two percent, and a headache one percent.
The guidelines were drawn up by Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents the three exam boards in England.
"The number of extra marks available are actually rather small, and in most cases they do not change the final grade," said Claire Ellis of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, one of the exam boards.
But the guidelines were lambasted by Campaign for Real Education, a pressure group, whose chairman Nick Seaton said: "This panders to the growing attitude in society that there is an excuse for everything."
"Of course, there are circumstances when a pupil might be particularly distressed and a teacher can scribble a note on the exam paper... but formalising and quantifying excuses in this way sends out the wrong message."