How many tests do you reckon Taiwanese kids get per semester (in real school, not including all the different cram schools they go to)?
Daily, weekly, half-semester, end of semester plus end of year…?
I read an article in The Grauniad saying English kids were the most tested in the industrialised world and nearly involuntarily expelled my tea all over the paper. It went on to say English kids take over 70 tests in their school careers. Depends what you mean by tests. I guess the author is referring to national tests - in which case, I have no idea how England compares with Taiwan. But in terms of the impact of testing - kids don’t care whether they’re national tests or not. Taiwanese kids get plenty of stress from their weekly tests and all those “big tests” you hear about that stop them coming to buxiban for a week’s revision.
So how many moderately serious tests do you think they get?
Damn, my threads are boring!
Don’t think there is much to say.
12 years of schooling here with two terms. Each term has a midterm and final. Thus 48 tests. Add to that the two entrance exams they do in junior and senior high school and you are at 50 or maybe 52. Let’s also assume they do some language proficiency tests then that might get to 60 at most.
In the UK and other countries with similar systems there might be more exams because they work on three terms in a year and not two.
I think most schools get 3 per semester for English, here they do. Used to be 2 in our village then they switched to what “everywhere else does”. Lately i have only heard of the 3/semester thing for English. Actually its the same for all subjects around here. The schools have 2 full days of class just for tests, 3 times a semester. Each subject has 1 big one.
But there are plenty of smaller tests/quizzes throughout the year, that depends on the teacher. Some teachers teach…even more read a book, test and assign homework for otehr students to mark and go on to collect their paycheck.
Although the tests here in Taiwan are far more frequent than what I ever saw in Canada, they also mean WAY less. You can almost never fail school in Taiwan. When i went to school in canada 50%+ you pass, 49% or less you redo the grade, tough shit. Here you move one even with 5%. Granted there are more tests here and they are FAR more stressful for kids here that care about school or have parents that care about school. But the kids who figured out it matters little cause they can just take over their parents chicken nugget shop and have no goals in life, they dont seem too stressed. They take their beatings from the teacher and go play liek happy kids.