It is easy to dismiss mid-year exams – which learners across South Africa will write in coming weeks – as less significant than end-of-year exams, but that would be a mistake, an expert says.

Peter Kriel, General Manager at The Independent Institute of Education, SA’s largest private higher education institution, says mid-year exams play a significant role, and a very specific one in each grade, and should be taken as seriously as final exams.

“Many learners view mid-year exams as a kind of practice run before the big race at the end of the year, but that analogy is not the right one. In fact, from Grade 8, exams should be viewed as progressively building a house, laying the foundations, building with bricks and cement, rounding off and finally, putting the roof on the end product when you finish your Matric exams.

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“If the foundations you lay at the start of your senior high years are not solid, or you neglect to ensure your walls are solidly built in subsequent years, you can attempt to put on the most beautiful roof in your Matric year, but it just won’t work.”

Kriel says each exam, and specifically, each mid-year exam plays a unique role as learners progress through senior high school.

GRADE 8

In this, high school learners’ first significant mid-year exam, they start to get a good feel for and an indication of their interests and strengths.

“You’ll start to see what you’re good at, and what needs more work if you are going to succeed in a specific subject,” says Kriel.

He says learners should start applying these insights to start focusing their thinking on what they want to study after school.

“That finding will, in turn, help you make the very important choices about which subjects you’ll select in Grade 9. If you start this thinking now, your path will crystallise sooner rather than later, which will help you focus your performance and efforts on your work, not on deciding what you want to do after school, or about the anxiety about which subjects to select next year.”

Kriel says before settling on a future path, learners should use their time advantage in Grade 8 to thoroughly investigate all their options for higher education institutions and qualifications, and very importantly, entry requirements for each.

GRADE 9

With subject choices coming up for Grade 10 – 12, it’s important to achieve good marks in those subjects that the learner would like to pursue to their finals in Matric. Grade 9 mid-years provide an indication of aptitude and likely future success in a subject. This insight allows a learner to make a call on whether to continue pursuing a subject despite less than stellar performance – which will mean working extra hard and getting additional help.

On the other hand, a learner may decide to rather switch to a different subject – it is not too late at this stage – to ensure a better average mark in years to come.

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“It is important to ensure that you don’t, for instance, drop a subject which would have kept doors open unless you are absolutely sure you won’t need it as an entry requirement at your chosen institution and for your chosen course,” says Kriel.

GRADE 10

As in Grade 9, a poor mid-year performance may indicate that the learner needs to choose another subject to replace one that isn’t working out. The difference is that this is the last opportunity to make a substitution, for instance moving from Maths to Maths Literacy, or substituting Accounting for Business Studies.

GRADE 11

From this year on, mid-year exams become even more significant, because learners can already use these marks to apply to their institution of choice early with provisional marks. Doing so will take mountains of stress and admin off them in the coming year and a half when all their energies should be focused on their Matric preparation.

GRADE 12

Matric mid-year exam marks can – and should – be used to apply to a higher education institution if this was not yet done.

“If you haven’t yet at this stage applied, ensure that you do so as soon as possible,” says Kriel.

“Focus on your exams for now, but resolve to use the June holidays to visit all the good, registered and accredited institutions in your area to investigate what they have on offer, and get your application in before the stresses of the final months of your final year of school.”

Matric mid-year exams also provide learners with a valuable arsenal of insight into where they need to focus their attention and efforts in coming months, to ensure they get the very best final marks they can, Kriel says.

“All exams should also be viewed as an opportunity to get feedback on how well you handle exams, and to practise that skill if you find that the actual sitting down in the exam room and managing anxiety, despite your best preparation, is what you need to work on,” says Kriel.

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