Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development

Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination
Children who are eleven years old but under twelve (12) years old at September 1st in the year of the examination are required to write the examination as a means of allocation to secondary school. Under a system of flexible transfer children who will be nine (9) years old but under eleven (11) years old in the year of the examination may write the examination provided that certain conditions have been satisfied. Children may defer writing the examination for one year or because of physical or emotional problems may be exempted from writing the examination, but special conditions must be satisfied and permission from the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development must be obtained in all cases.

Criterion-Referenced Test
The Criterion - Referenced test is designed to determine the extent to which a student can effectively perform a prescribed set of tasks. The Criterion -Referenced test interpretation permits us to describe a student's test performance without referring to the performance of other students. Criterion - Referenced tests are administered in English Language and Mathematics to students in Infants B and Class 2 of the primary schools. The English test has two basic components, grammar and comprehension. At the Infants B level, the grammar component targets eight (8) sub-skills, and the comprehension component targets five (5) sub-skills. At the class 2 level the grammar component targets ten (10) sub-skills. The tests were previously written in September, but it is now proposed that they be written in May of every year.

Continuous Assessment
'This is a continuous incremental system of measuring the knowledge, skills and attitudes that students have gained from pursuing the primary school curriculum, over a period of time rather than relying on a one shot examination as we presently do.' It has been proposed that the continuous assessment scores should be used in conjunction with the score gained in the BSSEE to allocate students to secondary schools.

Reading Level Tests
Reading level tests are scheduled to be administered in class 1 in our primary schools during the period September to November.

Examinations Administered by this section are as follow:-

Barbados Secondary Schools' Entrance Examination held in May
Barbados Secondary School Leaving Certificate taken in the third term of the school year
Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examinations held in the months of January and May/June
Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations held in May/June
Cambridge International Examinations O and A Levels held in May/June and November
Criterion-Referenced Tests are written in September by pupils of Infants B and Class 2
Edexcel International London Examinations O and A Level
London Chamber of Commerce and Industry held in June and December
Pitman's Qualification held in July and December
City and Guilds held in December and May/June

The following professional examinations are also supervised by this section:-

Association of Business Executives
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
Chartered Institute of Bankers
Chartered Institute of Management Accounts
Institute of Administrative Management
Institute of Guild of Brewing
Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
Institute of Linguists
University of London LLB
Institute of Financial Services
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
University of British Colombia
University of Wolverhampton (Holborn LLB)
University of Durham
University of Leicester
University of Warwick
Association of International Accountants
Association of British Dispensing Opticians

In addition to these examinations we also administer examinations for the Educational Testing Service in the USA. These examinations are the SAT, TOEFL, GRE and GMAT. These examinations are done by direct registrations to Educational Testing Service

Private examinations are usually done in May/June and December. Registration is done directly to the examination body by the candidates or by private institutions.