“ Good to see the Ministry of Education releasing the summary report on the results of 2019 TFSC Examinations. However, if these results are still based on Raw Marks, as has been in previous years, the comparison between 2018 and 2019 results, or between any years for that matter, are not valid. Raw marks from one year cannot be compared with those from another year, unless the examinations across the years are targeting fixed standards based on the knowledge and skills articulated in the national curriculum (standards-based). This means administering the same examination papers every year as is currently done in Years 4 and 6. Otherwise, this is what the standardisation or scaling process usually does, making marks from one year comparable to those from another year. As for the usefulness of the Form 5 and Form 6 examinations, any information is useful as long as one can guarantee the validity and reliability of such information. Perhaps the Ministry can consult with the various education systems, and the schools, on how it can support schools so they can administer these centrally-developed examinations for the internal use of the schools, especially for the improvement of teaching and learning. Centrally-developed Examination papers (by the Ministry of Education) would undoubtedly be far more reliable and valid than those developed by each school, provided they are targeting the same content and skills as outlined in the national curriculum. Such information can then be used by the schools to identify areas of both teaching and learning weaknesses that can then be used not ony by the schools but by the education authorities to develop school-based as well as national strategies for the overall improvement of student learning. ”