The 10-day marking and awarding process of the first-ever Araratian Baccalaureate (AB) examinations was completed on June 10. To this end, over the past two weeks specialists from Cambridge International Examinations came to Armenia to help with the entire process, which sometimes involved them working late into the night. Last week the Senior Assessment Advisor at Cambridge International Examinations, Annabel Criddle, was in Armenia and thanks to the efforts and dedicated work of both Miss Criddle and the whole AB Exam Center (ABEC) team the awarding of the AB exams was completed on time and the long awaited results were finally released..
Ayb Foundation’s Communication Team spoke to Miss Criddle to learn more about how the awarding had proceeded, what impression she drew after awarding the AB exams and what advice she would give to students who might be considering taking the exams next year.
– A few days ago, we had Cambridge consultant Heather West in Armenia, who was talking about how the exams should be marked, and now you are in Armenia to help with the awarding of the AB exams. If we sum up, what skills should an examiner have? – It’s a good question actually. An examiner should be a subject specialist and be well-organized and very logical in their thinking. They should have very clear handwriting because otherwise we can’t read what they have written on answer papers, and they need to be consistent, so that every time they mark someone’s work they are marking at the same standard. Another important characteristic of a good examiner is integrity, so that they mark the candidate’s work fairly.
– How do you ensure that the examiner is fair? – We ensure that the examiner is fair by initially training them properly in the application of the mark scheme. To ensure reliability usually we have more than one examiner – examiners check each other’s work to make sure that they have been marking correctly. The Principal Examiner oversees the marking of other examiners marking. We don’t ever give examiners the live exams in advance, so that they cannot pass the tests on to someone else.
– What do you think of the AB Examination Center? – I’ve been really happy to work with the ABEC team. I think they are making very good progress. I have had a look at things like their question paper storage facilities to make sure that they are secure, and I am very impressed by their storage facilities. The examiners have done a great job and have been very thorough. They all wanted to do their work properly and were very conscientious in the awarding.
– Having been involved in the AB exam awarding, can you tell us what conclusions you drew from them, more specifically what do you think of the level of knowledge and the degree of preparedness of Armenian students for such an exam? – It’s difficult to say. What I know is that when it’s the first time you’re taking these exams and it’s the first time your teachers have taught it, it can be really difficult but the AB candidates have performed well for the first year of the examinations. I was really pleased as they achieved a good range of grades considering it’s the first time that they have taken the exam.
– What should the students work on to achieve better results? – They need to keep working on their skills. Clearly a lot of them have good subject knowledge but Cambridge examinations are not just about knowing the subject – they have to have the skills to apply that subject to different situations. As a general rule, for sciences, for example, they need to make sure that they can do the practical exams as well as the written exams.
– What would you advise students that consider taking the AB exams next year? – I think they should have a go. Students who have had a go this year, the first year of the AB exams, might have had some doubts about whether it’s a good idea but they have done well. The qualifications themselves are going to be useful to them irrespective of whether they want to study abroad or not. The certificates they will get will have the Cambridge International Examinations logo, which is important and stands for a good quality qualification.
It should be noted that in 2014, the Ayb Educational Foundation and Armenian Ministry of Education and Science in collaboration with Cambridge University and University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (IoE) embarked on the National Program for Educational Excellence (NPEE). Within the framework of NPEE, the Araratian Baccalaureate, an Armenian-language alternative educational program that meets high international high standards and is already accredited by Cambridge International Examinations as being equivalent to GCE A Level, will be introduced in schools in Armenian regions that offer the high school program. The program will train and certify a community of teachers that will be teaching the AB program in accordance with NPEE requirements. In short, this means that the education Armenian children will get in Armenian schools will be recognized by both local and international HEIs without the necessity of any additional exams.
