KCPE exams ambiguous and stinks of mediocrity

By John Harrington Ndeta , Ajabu Africa, posted Novemver 12, 2011

NAIROBI, Kenya_The just concluded national primary level examinations fell below the standards of a multiple choice type of examination which they are expected to adhere to. Indeed, while some pupils and teachers alike felt that the exams were difficult, my analysis of the same reveals that most of the answers were analogous,  full of ambiguities and inaccuracies which made the questions in most of the subjects not meet the standards of a national exam which determines the career trajectory of all the Kenyan child.

I will sample out two of the papers to illustrate my argument; English and Social Studies. The English Paper, Section A: Language lacked variety in the question items particularly in the grammar section which starts from question 16-18. Only 4 grammar areas were tested yet there is too much that could be examined.

Question tags, phrasal verbs, punctuation, and opposite word is all that was examined. The question is; can’t we have more questions items on the grammar part? Are essays too important that they should occupy 50 % if not 80% if cloze test; question 1-15 is to be included, in an English paper at the Primary level?

In question 23 and 24, which focuses on the opposites a lot of ambiguity abound. In question 23, what is the opposite of unsatisfactory in multiple (A. sensible) and (B. reasonable). Notice that sensible and reasonable are actually synonyms and there is no way you can have them both in case where you have to chose one of them; and more so at the Primary school level.

The same ambiguity arises in question 24 where in this set of answers (safe, secure) what is the opposite of risky.

The use of synonyms in the same question is a very unfortunate state of affairs in a class 8 exam. The vocabulary scale of secure and safe is so minimal that getting the opposite of risky is a near impossibility.
The principle of asking for the opposite words should be hinged on the stem/root/basic words. Not words that have been inflected like un-satisfactory. Note that the word which they should asked for the opposite is satisfy or satisfactory

I join many teachers and pupils across the country in asking; which answers are correct in question 23 and 24 if the Kenya National exam council was to be sincere in its marking of this paper?

In the Social Studies and Religious Education paper, Question 59, required candidates to identify the work of the police force in Kenya. The irony of this particular question is that the supposedly correct answer read as follows; B. Arrest low (sic) breakers. Notice the use of the word low instead of law in a set of answers where all the others are wrong and a student is left with B as the most appropriate answer. What kind of mediocrity is this where there is no proof reading and revision of national exams before they are printed?

The 2011 KCPE candidates deserve an apology from the Kenya National Examination Council over such errors and misleading questions which were so rampant in this year’s exams. What is more is that somebody somewhere is sleeping on job and should be shown the door before the cock crow’s tomorrow morning.

Part II of the Social Studies paper which comprise of Section A covering Christian religious education was the poorest set of all of this year’s exam. Other than outright misrepresentation of biblical facts, the examiner seems to have lacked mastery of language to construct questions and answers of this exam.

In question 61, man was asked in Genesis chapter1& 2 to take care of the environment by tending the garden not tilling the land which is supposed to be the correct answer to this question. Mankind was condemned to tilling the land in chapter 3 after he had sinned against God. The choice of words in constructing a multiple choice question is critical and KNEC cannot afford to compromise on this if our examinations have to remain credible.

Question 63, 65, 66 are all ambiguous in one way or the other. In some cases, the framing of the questions and the answers is incomplete making the questions too ambiguous.

Question 68 is expressly misleading and a misrepresentation of biblical fact as the Shunamite woman in the bible as recorded in 2nd King 4:8ff indicates that she welcomed Prophet Elisha and not Elijah. To make matter worse, there is no correct answer among those given as Elisha was invited by the Shunamite woman for dinner, if you like a meal. The entire multiples given (A. Giving him clothes, B. Giving him a place to stay (he was just a passerby and could not have stayed), C. Pouring oil on his feet, D. Washing his clothes.) have no impression that the man of God Elisha was welcomed by the Shunamite women for a dinner.

Other ambiguous question arising from poor construction of the questions and the multi-choice answer include question 70, 74, 76 and 78. In question 78, the question is specific to how Jesus made his eleven disciples believe that he had resurrected.

Reference to eleven disciples is make in the Gospels of Mark and John in which case  the answer provided do not march what Jesus did when he appear to the eleven after his resurrection. The Answer given is to be found in Luke who generalizes Jesus appearance to his disciples. Note that no specifics in regard to the number of disciples Jesus appear to and showed then the scars on his hands and legs so that they could believe it was him and not a ghost.

Question 86, 87 and 89 all ask for a most appropriate decision one has to make in situations of difficulty. The problem is that all these questions are open ended and the first line of a decision would be for the Christian to address the issue at hand for before seeking support of a person whom is in place of authority.

It this case, there are two or more answers per question which are appropriate depending on the context and level of the problem resolution by the said Christian. The problem in these questions is that the examiner left the questions too opens ended and nay answer could as well be correct.

This cross-examination of the KCPC examination brings out wide gaps in the management of our education testing system and the buck stops with KNEC. Key among the issues that need to be dealt with in every single examination is the whole issue of standardization and proofreading of the examination before they are printed out. The CRE questions got me thinking that they were set and approved by one person!

Notice that all examinations have to be set; reviewed and approved by a panel before they are printed. If the KNEC has such structures, they are moribund and need not just to be disbanded but to be re-constituted with the right people.

Otherwise we are exposing the candidates to the whims of luck and those who emerge tops may not be the best but lucky as the answer to each question is just in A, B, C and D. It is obvious that some candidate will shade one of the answers that will be designated by the examiner as correct and thus end up accruing marks whether the question and answer makes sense or not.

These gaps must be addressed without fail and with the urgency it deserves. Now that this matter is in the public court, I am convinced that Kenya has capable, well schooled academicians who can come up with standardized examinations. For how long are we going to put up with such ambiguities, mediocrity and incompetencies in our national examination body?

The author is Knowledge Management (KM) Officer, PeaceNet Kenya and a contributor for Ajabu Africa News

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