This couldn't possibly be anything to do with colleges improving their pass rates in order to serve their political masters could it?

I guess having been thru the 2381 I'm slightly concerned that the pass rate might not be that high. Someone told me the pass mark was 40%, but I haven't got that confirmed.

But if it was confirmed then it's somewhat alarming that a spark could be wandering around connecting things up which are possibly 60% erroneous......

....oo-err missus!

Andrew

[quote author=sparkyjonny  link=1092425635/15#18 date=1098039729]I've just heard this is the last year OMR is going to be used for marking...next year each candidate will use a computer terminal (possibly via the net - uncertain though) - similiar to driving theory tests! [/quote]

City & Guilds has a range of titles called E-Quals which are sat at a terminal. (I used to administer the tests at the college I taught at) This might be what they are planning to do with some trade exams.

What happens is this. There is a master question bank for each subject and level from which the (multi-guess) test papers are constructed. When you are ready you will be entered and C & G will send a test especially for you. In a whole class sitting the same qualification at the same time every student will have a different exam and even if two students get the same question the order of the possible answers will be different. So you can't take home a paper for your mates and you can't even ask, "Here mate, what did you put for question fifteen?"

The exams are taken at an approved test centre and results are usually available to the administrators straight afterwards but probably won't be published until C & G have confirmed receipt of the completed papers. You won't be able to sit the papers over the internet from home for obvious reasons.