Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/734922
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2016 News Private school children more likely to ask for revision of exam papers JAMES DEBONO STUDENTS hailing from in- dependent schools and church schools are more likely to ap- ply for revision of O level exam papers, a service offered by the MATSEC Support Unit whereby an examiner who did not form part of the original marking panel corrects the paper of the candidate against a fee of €35. This emerges from a study pub- lished by Matsec Support Unit of the University of Malta. In cases where an error in the original marking is found, the grade of the candidate is revised only if this results in an upgrade. While in Maltese only 7.8% of the candidates hailed from in- dependent school candidates, for revision of papers this num- ber skyrocketed to 29.8%. On the other hand while candidates from state schools accounted for 46% of candidates, only 13% of those applying for a revision of their mark in Maltese hailed from state schools. The statistics show that stu- dents from independent schools were most likely to demand a re- vision of paper of their Maltese O level exam but were less likely to demand a revision of paper for English and physics (21%) and Maths (15%). Candidates from church schools were most likely to demand a revision of their mark in physics (48%) and chem- istry (50%). The 2016 data suggests that independent school candidates were more likely to apply for Revision of Papers in more than one subject. While most candidates apply for one revision of paper, a num- ber of candidates apply for two or more, with one candidate in 2016 applying for a total of 10 re- vision of papers. 151 students applied for a re- vision of their Maths paper, 88 their English paper and 84 the Maltese paper. According to the report such subjects can be con- sidered to be more 'high-stakes' than others. However, Religious Knowledge, Italian, Environmental Studies and French, boasting of 3364, 1814, 1392, and 1216 candidates each, only had 15, 7, 16, and 5 re- spective registrations for a revi- sion of paper. In 2015, only 26 of the 609 re- quests for Revision of Papers after the May session and three of the 106 further requests after the September session had their grades changed. This suggests that results have been changed in 4.1% of all cases. Males seemed more likely than females to apply to have their pa- pers revised for the 2016 exami- nations. According to the report this difference cannot be ex- plained entirely by better female performance in most subjects. In physics, for instance, although males outperformed females, they were still more likely to ap- ply for Revision of Papers. XTRA Last minute preparations are underway for the new primetime current affairs programme, hosted by Saviour Balzan. The programme, which will tackle the burning topics of the week and include interviews with relevant personalities will be screened on Thursdays at 8:50pm.