As Uganda’s End of Year Exams Approach – 2015

As the Ugandan school year comes to a close, our High Schoolers are on leave for another week before returning for Third Term. For Secondary Four (S4) and Secondary Six (S6) students this will bring the moment of truth starting in October and November, respectively. A week or more of National Exams, in up to nine subjects for the S4 and three or more for the S6 students.

Performance on these standardized tests will define eligibility for continuing education, which can have a determining impact on one’s future. Leading up to this, students have been revising (reviewing) their notes which they made in the prior weeks, months and years. Most students don’t have their own copy of any textbooks and, in fact, sometimes teachers don’t even use books. Instead, a carefully cultivated set of notes is one of the keys to success.

The better schools will have prepared their students to think critically about questions while the majority have simply emphasized memorization of the 3-18 (depending on the question) bullet points which form a top-scoring answer. Those who learned critical thinking skills in the Ordinary Level (O-Level is comprised of S1-S4) will start their Advanced Level (A-Level is S5-S6) at an