Education Ministry Creates High School Exam Prep Website

The Education Ministry on Monday launched a free website that allows high school students to prepare for their 12th grade national exams via a computer, tablet or smartphone.

Accessible through the ministry’s website, the test prep program offers nearly 1,000 practice questions and answers in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics and history, ministry spokesman Ros Salin said on Monday.

cam photo e learning
A screenshot from the Ministry of Education’s high school national exam e-learning website, which launched on Monday.

After setting up a personal online account, students can assess their knowledge by immediately checking their answers and test scores, Mr. Salin said.

“They can do the self-assessment, they can have feedback and then they can speed up their studies…even when they’re at home at night. Anywhere, any time, they can access the system,” he said.

During the website’s one-week trial period, which began on February 6, 15,000 students logged in, he said.

Last year, about 62 percent of the 93,752 graduating students who took the two-day national exam passed, qualifying them to attend university. The exam was overhauled in 2014 as part of a move to fix a faltering education system.

With the new site, Mr. Salin said that students can “maximize the use of electronic devices”—not only for recreational or social purposes, but to benefit their studies.

Students in the 11th grade at Preah Sisowath High School in Phnom Penh said they were keen to use the website to study for the exam, which could determine their educational futures. But Tann Panha, 17, said he had tried to create an account on the website on Sunday and it wasn’t yet accessible.

“I think it will be very helpful,” Panha said, adding that he planned to try again soon to register. “I need to improve in physics so I can pass grade 12.”

Panha said the ministry was smart to make the test prep site accessible on mobile platforms.

“A lot of students after school look at their phone, so the Education Ministry thinks that would be a good way for students to learn,” he said.

Panha will use his smartphone or a school computer to answer online practice questions.

Schoolmate Chen Sakrina, 16, said she hadn’t started studying for the senior year exam yet, but planned to use both the ministry’s test prep site and more traditional study tools.

“When I study with a book, I can focus more,” Sakrina said. “If I study with my phone, I get notifications and it interferes with my studies.”

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