"They can't communicate the nature of the exam" ... Antony Mayrhofer.
THE first thing most HSC students do after finishing an exam is go straight to Facebook or Twitter to share their thoughts.
But another group of year 12 students face a social media blackout after completing their exams. They are the 3000 Australian pupils undertaking the International Baccalaureate diploma program, with exams starting today.
As the exams are held globally, students are forbidden from discussing the content of the tests lest a stray tweet or status update is seen by students overseas. The director of international relations for the IB diploma program, Antony Mayrhofer, said students were well aware of the policy.
''Because of the rise of technology and social media, it's made very clear to students first of all they can't take any electronic devices into the exam room apart from an approved calculator and they can't take anything out of the exam room apart from their writing material and their calculator,'' he said.
''They can't communicate the nature of the exam in any way to people because that potentially means that someone sitting for the exam in Sydney could communicate information to another student in another part of the world.''
Students in the northern hemisphere sat their IB diploma exams in May, while students in the southern hemisphere will do the same exams from November 5 to 22. Australian students will be among the first in the southern hemisphere to sit the exams, due to our position in the world time zone.
The IB has been growing in popularity since its introduction in Australia in 1978, although it is offered only in private schools.
Victoria has the highest number of IB diploma students, with 1500 to start exams this week, while just over 300 will sit the tests in NSW.
Results will be released to schools on January 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment