Minister wishes good luck to students starting TEE exams tomorrow

4/11/97

Thousands of Western Australian students will sit down tomorrow to start the all-important Tertiary Entrance Examinations, with some students sitting the exams in places as far away as Argentina and Cambodia.

Education Minister Colin Barnett today gave his best wishes to the students for the 13-day exam period, ending on Friday November 21. He said he was very confident that students in both Government and non-Government schools would continue to perform well, as they had done in the past.

Mr Barnett said more than 13,200 students would sit the exams to be held in more than 150 exam centres, mostly in Western Australia. However, some students would also sit exams in other states of Australia, and in Malaysia, Ghana, Jakarta, and the Cocos Islands. This year, four new subjects - political and legal studies; information systems; modern Greek; and history (a new syllabus) - will be examined.

"The most popular exam this year, apart from the compulsory scaling test, is the English exam, followed by discrete mathematics, applicable mathematics, geography and human biology," Mr Barnett said.

"Other subjects on the exam list include ancient history, German, computing, calculus, physical science and accounting. All up, more than 69,000 exam papers will be distributed in 31 subject areas over the 13 days."

Mr Barnett said while this could be a particularly stressful time for students, parents also felt the pressure of their children going through the exam period.

"Entire families feel the strains and anxiety during these exams and every student, and parent, has their own way of dealing with the pressures," he said.

"My advice is for everyone to have a good night's sleep, to eat well and be prepared, and make sure everything you need for the exam is ready to go in plenty of time."

The Tertiary Entrance Examinations will this year be administered by the Curriculum Council of Western Australia, established earlier this year and incorporating the Secondary Education Authority.

The exams are a massive exercise. Along with the thousands of exam papers being printed, and the numbers of students, teachers, schools and parents involved, the Curriculum Council will employ more than 630 supervisors and 800 markers. The marking of the papers will be complete in mid-December and results available on the TISC phone line, on 1901 191 091, from December 28. Written results will be sent in the first mail of the new year.

"Students will be able to ring the TISC Line to find out their subject grades, results, TEE scores and their eligibility for university, while students who have applied to enter university can check that their preferences are correct and if they have been offered a place at university," Mr Barnett said.

"The phone line will require students to input personal identification data before they receive any results and will allow everyone to access their results at the same time, rather than having to wait for details in the mail which, for students in regional areas, takes longer than those in the city."

Media contact: Justine Whittome (08) 9222 9699