Primary school kids in the Netherland just got their final exams assessment for where they will be going to for their secondary school. There was an error of epic proportions where a mistake was made in the final test of 20,000 students, reports NOS, giving them a wrong assessment. However, we still don’t know the exact numbers.
It is now unavoidable for the assessment to be adjusted. However, they don’t have to take the test again, but a new assessment will be calculated as soon as possible. It is then possible for everyone to check if the secondary schools chosen for the pupils was wrong, and how this can be adjusted.
According to NOS, the mistake lies with “independent experts, not by the commercial test providers”, where the error was noticed when schools figured out that the results from the “final test was very different or higher than expected”.
What is this final test and why is it important?
The final test is an assessment which determines which stream of secondary school the pupil will be moving on to after primary school (like HAVO, VMBO, etc.). It pretty much determines how the next few years in the pupil’s educational career will turn out, including what opportunities they have access to, the kind of courses and universities they can apply to, and so on. So, yeah – it was a pretty big deal.
My heart truly goes out to the kids right now, because exams are not easy for a lot of people. It involves a lot of anxiety, and anticipation, especially when this one test seems to be held at such a high accord by everyone else. Did your child take the exams recently? Let us know in the comments, below!