Examination Dept. asked to prepare Z score in three different ways

GCE (A/L) results imbroglio:

December 15, 2011, 10:09 pm , The Island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

The Examination Department may be able to issue the much delayed results of the GCE (A/L) examination (2011) next Monday, Commissioner General of the Department of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe says.

He told The Island last evening that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had requested the Examinations Department to submit results with Z score prepared separately on the basis of marks obtained by students who sat the examination under the new and old syllabuses and a common Z score for both categories.

The required data would be handed over to the UGC on Friday, Edirisinghe said.

The UGC appointed a committee of five experts to devise a formula to prevent injustices being caused to students who sat the examination under the two different syllabuses, as regards university admissions. The panel comprising five professors of statistics was expected to go through the lists of Z score prepared by the Examinations Department and to give their opinion as to which one would be the most suited, the Commissioner General of Examination said.

"If they give us the go-ahead on Friday evening, then we can release the results on Monday," Edirisinghe said, adding that the results had been finalized a week ago but their release had been delayed in view of possible problems in admitting the students, who had sat for the same subjects but answered different papers based on two syllabuses, to universities.

About 250,000 candidates sat the GCE (A/L) examination in August this year. The Examinations Department initially planned to release the results by the end of the Third school term on Dec. 9.