School-based assessments are better than public examinations.

Do you agree with this statement? Give your reasons. School-based

assessments are evaluations of students' achievements and are conducted by
teachers of each school. Public exanimations on the other hand, are
examinations set by a common authority and students of a specific age sit for it
at a scheduled common time. These examinations are very structured in terms of
organisation planning and grading. This is to ensure that the whole process of
preparing the exam paper is confidential and the examination is conducted in a
fair and just manner to all students.
In my opinion, school-based examinations are not better than public
examinations. School-based assessments are tests or examinations that are
prepared by a school to evaluate their respective students. It is possible that
school-based assessments may give rise to abuse such as manipulation of results
and favoritism. Therefore, I believe that public assessments are better because
they possess validity, good standards, strict quality control, public acceptance as
well as a common schedule and timetable.
For an examination or assessment to be valid, I believe that the questions and
marking scheme must be set by an independent panel. An independent panel
means a panel of people who do not have a vested interest in the achievement of
the candidates. The marking of papers is also not carried out by anyone directly
involved with the candidates. In this way, controversies such as the manipulation
of marks can be avoided. For example, if the school wanted to show excellent
achievement, then it could set any level of assessment to project its high
performance. Consequently, it would be the students that suffer as there would be
no validity in their results.
A good standard of testing is an integral part of public examinations. We can
be assured that a public examination paper will have the correct standard. It will
cover the entire syllabus as agreed upon by the Ministry of Education (MOE). A
school-based examination may only cover whatever that was taught by the
teachers in that school. Therefore, the standard of learning would not be evenly
maintained throughout the country. However, in public examinations, the
required syllabus is distributed throughout the nation. It is the schools'
responsibility to teach all that is required before the students sit for the
examination.
Strict quality control is enforced in public examinations to avoid any form of
abuse. The papers are vetted by different panels for proof-reading and to ensure
the standards are followed. There is confidentiality in the printing, distribution
and handling of the examination papers. Each examination centre is given sets of
examination papers which are kept in the strong-room of each respective centre
before the examination.
Public acceptance of the UPSR, PT3, SPM and STPM examinations is assured
due to the long-standing excellent record of these examinations. Parents and
guardians know for a fact that these examinations adhere to specific standards.
Most respected institutions of learning around the would also accepts of the results
of public examinations as the entry requirement for further studies. Thus, it is
important to do well in these examinations.
Nationwide common timetables of the above-mentioned examinations are such
an integral part of school life that it is hard to imagine school life without public
examinations. Throughout their schooling days, students are subjected to several
public examinations. This allows them to overcome each hurdle one by one, step
by step. State-wide common trial papers are also set for students to familiarise
themselves with the rules and skills needed to sit for their public examinations.
There is a shift towards school-based assessment for certain components such
as oral assessment for languages and folios for subjects such as Geography and
History. These assessments only cover a small percentage of the overall marks. I
believe that there can be no substitute for public examinations because, as of yet.
there is no substantial system in place that is credible enough to replace them.
Summary

Aina was taking part in a cheerleading competition when she fell as the human
pyramid she was climbing crumbled just as she reached the top. Automatically,
she reached out her hand to break her fall but broke her arm instead. Her broken
bone stuck out through her flesh causing her to bleed and lose consciousness. At
the hospital, she underwent surgery and blood transfusions. When she woke up
in the hospital room, she heard a nurse ask her mother about her adoption.