CATEGORY:EDUCATION ----------------------- INSIDE GRENADA FRIDAY May 04,2007 by Wallace J.A GRENADA: Students of Grade Six (6) in 71 primary schools (54 public, 17 private) throughout the tri-island state turned out in their numbers today to write the 2007 Common Entrance Examination. The examination was held in 53 centers. It started at 8:30am this morning and ended at 1:30 pm with two break periods in between for students to have snacks and refresh themselves. The Common Entrance is a standardized test which consists of two papers: an essay test and a multiple choice test. It uses the same standard to measure students’ performance across the country. Everyone takes the same test according to the same rules. All Schools give students practice in taking the test. This helps to make sure that they are familiar with the directions and test format. The results of the Common Entrance Exams enable the Ministry of Education to select eligible students for the limited positions that are available at the nation’s secondary schools. According to Mr. Kirk Seetahal, an official from the Ministry of Education, a total of 3418 students wrote the examinations this year (1845 boys and 1573 girls).This total can be broken down as follows: CARRIACOU --- 60(Males)--- 56(Females)--- 116(Total) ST.GEORGE’S ---583(M)--- 500(F)--- 1083(T) PRIVATE ---100(M)--- 107(F)--- 207(T) ST. PATRICKS---232(M)---188(F)--- 420(T) ST.JOHN’S ---205(M)---60(F)--- 365(T) ST. ANDREW’S --- 462(M)--- 375(F)--- 837(T) ST. DAVID’S --- 203(M)--- 187(F)--- 390(T) TOTAL --- 1845(M)--- 1573(F)--- 3418(T) Grenadian Connection spoke to some of the students who wrote the examination this morning and the majority of them said that it was challenging but they were optimistic about their chances of making it into a secondary school at the commencement of the new academic year in September, 2007.