The new Basic Competency Tests (BCT, 基本學力測驗) -- a two-day compulsory examination for junior high school students central to the selection process for senior high school entry -- started yesterday.
More students are taking the exam, which has over 300,000 candidates, than any other in the country's history.
This weekend is the first time the BCT has been held. Over the two days, students are tested on five subjects: Chinese literature, English, mathematics, sociology and natural sciences.
Before the examination got underway, Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) called on students and parents to relax to ensure that examinees performed to the best of their ability.
He also expressed his hope that composition tests will be added to the Chinese literature and English papers in the future so that assessments could be made of students' ability to express themselves.
Tzeng said his ministry will soon consider a proposal for such tests, but that any decision to proceed would not be implemented until the year following a decision. Composition tests would be introduced in 2003 at the earliest, he said.
The ministry has said that the tests and their answers will be posted on the Internet immediately after the examination is over this afternoon, and students will receive their results by April 13. If there is any problem concerning the results, the ministry said, students could file for their tests to be double-checked on April 16.
In 1998, the ministry decided to scrap the 42-year-old Joint Senior High School entrance examination in favor of a diversified enrollment scheme (
The new admissions system provides three major channels for students to enter senior high schools.
Admission will be granted on the basis of either an application (
All applicants must take the BCT, which is to be held twice a year. The second test this year will be on June 9 and June 10. Students may take the examination twice and choose their best scores for use in senior high school applications.
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