Report on the National Senior Certificate Examination Results 2010.

REPORT ON THE NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION RESULTS • 2010
2.7 Processing of marks and results on the Integrated Examination Computer
System (IECS)
The Integrated Examination Computer System (IECS) constitutes the backbone of the examination system.
the iEcs is the system utilised for the registration of candidates and centres, provision of printing and packing
statistics, the capture, processing and release of results . the dbE commenced with the development of this
new computer system in 2007, in preparation for the new curriculum. The IECS has successfully processed
the results of candidates in the 2008 and 2009 NSC examination. Over the last two years, the shortcomings of
the IECS were identified and enhancements were implemented in 2010. To ensure a foolproof system for the
processing of the NSC results in 2010, the IECS has been implemented on a second platform which is based
on a mainframe system . the dbE will continue with the enhancements of the iEcs in future years and the full
potential of the system will be realised once each school and each district in the country has direct access to
the examination data for purposes of ensuring effective data collection and promoting regular and effective
feedback .
2.8 Standardisation of the NSC Results
umalusi, the council for Quality assurance in General and Further Education and training, is responsible for
the standardisation of the examination results. Standardisation is an educational process practiced world over,
which is meant to normalise examination scores of candidate’s through a process based on sound educational
reasoning as well as comparisons of the current and previous year’s marks. Despite the fact that question
papers are moderated internally by the DBE and externally by Umalusi, the standard of the question paper
only becomes evident after the examination is written and the learner responses are marked. Therefore, the
examination scores of the current year must be compared to previous years so as to ensure that a candidate
writing the examination in 2010 is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged.
The objectives of standardisation process are to:
(a) ensure that the cohort of learners is not duly or unduly advantaged by fluctuations of results;
(b) ensure that a consistent quality is produced over the years;
(c) mitigate fluctuations of learner performance as a result of factors other than learner performance.
The 2010 standardisation process was conducted under rigorous and robust conditions following the principles
which have been approved by the Umalusi Council to guide this process. They are as follows:
(a) In general no adjustment should exceed 10% or the historical average
(b) Adjustment in excess of 10% could be considered at the upper end to increase the number of distinctions
in a subject
(c) In the case of individual candidates, the adjustment effected should not exceed 50% of the mark obtained
by the candidate .
(d) if the distribution of the raw marks is below the historical average, the marks may be adjusted upwards,
subject to the limitations .
(e) the computer adjustment mark is calculated based on the above principles .
(f) For those subjects with a practical component of 50%, raw marks could be accepted.
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