Students: Physics was the most complicated, there was a lot to read, we needed more time to work. Otherwise, you can manage with general culture
28,110 ninth graders took an entirely online science test on the first day of a survey of students’ science skills.
The Minister of Education Galin Tsokov warned about the entry level in natural sciences months ago. And he “revealed” in an interview for “24 hours” before the beginning of the school year that the questions will be of a practical focus. Some of them – related to current topics such as
sustainable development, green energyq
which will also be an emphasis in the PISA 2025 tasks.
It is the poor performance of Bulgarian students in the international survey that has worried the ministry and the whole society in recent years. Their average score in mathematical literacy, which was the focus of PISA 2022, was 417 points, against an OECD average of 472 points. In the spring, when the new PISA is, the questions will be related to physics, chemistry and biology. The other feature is that they are solved in electronic platforms and that is why the exam has now been conducted on screen. “This is very important because the students who took PISA in the last few editions answered test tasks on electronic devices for the first time in the 9th grade. So this is an important training session”, Prof. Tsokov explained earlier. Two electronic platforms are used to evaluate which one works better. Thus, both the type of tasks and the environment are closer to those in PISA.
The inspection began at 8 a.m. in nearly 800 public, municipal and private schools, which had the opportunity to divide students into two groups. The rest of the ninth graders will join today. For each of the two days, a different version of the test to measure science skills was made.
For the first time, an entire graduating class takes a test that is conducted entirely on electronic devices. As recently as last week, the platforms were open for youth to access and familiarize themselves with both the features and sample tasks.
Each student logs in through their edu.mon.bg account or through a unique QR code generated for their device and confirmed by the supervising teacher. The test consists of 3 parts – biology, physics and chemistry.
Each part of the test includes up to 10 tasks/case studies with multiple choice and/or short free answer questions. The student has 30 minutes to work on each part and can go back and change their answers. But once he has confirmed the completion of his work on the relevant part, he starts on the next one and cannot go back to the previous one.
Results may be entered as a running assessment
and to replace the entry-level course in the relevant subject. This happens at the discretion of the teaching teacher and at the discretion of the student.
“It was not complicated, but there was a problem with starting some tests because they are on a computer, then they fixed them. Physics was the most difficult for us,” said a ninth-grader from the capital’s 30th school, who has not yet decided whether she wants her grade to be entered – she is not sure how she performed.
“Biology and chemistry were relatively easy, but there was a lot of reading, especially physics. We didn’t have enough time, but we performed relatively well”, commented Kalina, Sofia, Tanya, Maria and Monica, who went out together after the exam in the yard.
“You need to have basic knowledge to perform well. A large part were diagrams from which we had to read information”, explained Christian and Mario. According to the boys, it was generally about
reading comprehension
According to their classmates Natalia and Emma, most tasks were solved by a common culture. They were not worried at all.
After the 3 study hours that the exam takes, the ninth graders had regular classes.