Impact of Examinations Timetabling on Performance (Case of BGCSE)

2. Impact of Examinations Timetabling on Performance (Case of BGCSE) Presentation by Boipuso Mosalakgotla Thabo Lebogang

3. Background • BEC develops and administer national primary and secondary school examinations( PSLE, JCE & BGCSE). • The administration of these examinations requires scheduling and timetabling to ensure that there is a platform of convergence for BEC and candidates.

4. Background • BEC develops and distribute timetables to centres. The timetable is also uploaded in to the BEC website to ensure convenience • Where there are irregularities such as clashing, discrepancies between timetable and any other documents, the head of centre should contact BEC

5. ProblemStatement Time gives candidates an opportunity to plan and apply themselves fully to optimize chances of being certified as well as allowing BEC to successfully administer examinations which are highly accessible. Despite this, chances are that opportunity to plan and preparedness amongst candidates themselves may vary due to diverse time management skills and this may reflect significantly on performance.

6. Study Objectives • To determine the relationship between position of an exam paper on the timetable and performance. • To determine the relationship between time of the day an exam paper was written and performance.

7. Justification Looking at the scenarios under which time management disparities may occur, where time management is regarded as an opportunity which remains uncontrolled for, it is very important to ensure that the behavior of performance and timetabling are studied to advice the council with strategies which will ensure that its examinations are accessible to all. Subjects which influence certification such as core subjects may be strategically placed to ensure that timetable affects them the same way.

8. Literature • The literature in psychology recognises that performance varies by time of day. • A study by Dills and Julian,( 2008) indicates that the time of day effect is concentrated in the afternoon. Grades are generally lower for all morning classes; grades increase with time of day in the afternoon.

9. Literature Cont’d • The relationship between time of day and grade is positive. In the linear specification, the study found that grades are 0.022 grade points higher in courses taken an hour later in the day. The effect is small, but statistically significant. • Students grades are higher in courses taken later in the day, early morning classes are particularly bad for students (Dills and Julian, 2008).

10. Literature Cont’d • Another study on “The effects of exam scheduling on academic performance” (Goulas and Rigisa 2018) state the first channel through which scheduling affects exam performance is the number of days between exams. • Time between exams may lend itself to preparation, or recuperation.

11. Study Methodology Target Population This is a retrospective cohort of records of candidates who sat for BGCSE examinations from 2013to 2017. Sampling Subjects with high impact on certification especially core subjects were targeted( English Language, Setswana, Mathematics SDA, SSA & Biology)

12. Methodology Cont’d Data Analysis Plan The study followed a quantitative analysis approach where contingency tables were highly employed to measure the influence of some variables on performance at component level. From BGCSE results of 2013 to 2017, the investigation derived observed number of candidates obtaining grades A, B C while taking examination at different quarters (Qi) of the examination time space(ῼt). ῼt≈ a month →Qi≈ a week

13. Methodology Cont’d

14. Methodology Cont’d • To check if the observed counts were statistically significant or not, Pearson chi-square test for independence was used to test if a shift on one variable influences a shift on the other or not. • Where expected values are less than 5, Monte Carlo test was employed for such cases. • The results were then summarised by ranking performance of the Quarters and times of the day

15. Findings

16. Comparisons on quarters(Qi) of the examination time space(ῼt)

17. Comparisons on quarters(Qi) of the examination time space(ῼt)

18. Comparisons of quarters (Q2 and Q3 only) of the examination time space(ῼt)

19. Comparisons of morning (Mt) and afternoon (At) times of theexamination time space (ῼt)

20. Comparisons of morning (Mt) and afternoon (At) times of theexamination time space (ῼt)

21. Discussions and Conclusions

22. Discussions and Conclusions Cont’d • The investigation has also discovered that the BEC timetable is rigid, that is once a paper is written on a certain quarter of the examination time space and day time the position of such paper in the timetable may not change for a period of five years. • Also from the results comparison of morning and afternoon times of taking an examination paper did not meet conclusive results.

23. Recommendations • Since BGCSE is a subject based qualification, subjects should be rotated such that each of them have an opportunity to be written in Q2 which is the most favorable position within the examination time space. • To carry out a qualitative study to validate findings of this investigation.

24. Thank YouRe a leboga