The School-Based Assessment (SBA)
By Marjorie Henry, Contributor

Students from Colombia leaf through copies of Youthlink magazine during a tour of The Gleaner's North Street offices recently. - Winston Sill Photo

THE SUMMER holidays are now over and it is the start of a new school year. For you, my young readers who are in the fifth form (grade 11), this is the year for your external examinations.

In another few months, yes, that was correct, you will begin to write these examinations which usually begin in the month of May.

I am not for one moment trying to alarm you but rather trying to make you aware of the brevity of time you have before your examinations, and therefore the need to begin or continue your preparations for them.

It is with this thought in mind that I add that expression of hope that you took time out over the long summer holidays to review topics already done, reinforce them by additional readings and also did some preparation of those topics yet to be covered.

SYLLABUS IMPORTANT

At the very outset, I would like to encourage you to purchase for yourselves, not only a copy of the geography syllabus, but a syllabus for all the subjects you intend to offer in the examinations.

I am certain that you are well aware of the importance of your syllabus. Do not believe that it is for your teacher only. You also need it so that you can ensure that the content and objectives for each aspect of the syllabus are realised and, also, you can do preparatory reading for yourself on topics to be done in class.

This is quite a 'mouthful' but I do trust that I was successful in getting across to you, the importance of procuring a syllabus.

I have decided to begin my series of study guides this year by looking at the School-Based Assessment (SBA). I feel certain that your teacher would have told you that this is compulsory for students offering geography at the general proficiency level.

The Geography SBA is not as difficult as some students would want to think, hence there is no need to panic. It is simply a field study report based on a topic of your own choice.

However, in doing the report, there are specific guidelines to be followed. Let me share with you some of the general guidelines given in the syllabus:

* TOPIC: The topic for the field study can be selected from any of the systems outlined in the geography syllabus. In short, you have a freedom of choice.

* INDEPENDENT/GROUP STUDY: The study can either be done independently or in a group.

The group effort would be that of collecting the data. You can all obtain data on the same aspect of the chosen topic or you may wish to have members of the group collect information on different aspects of the topic.

Most importantly, however, your report MUST be an independent one. You cannot collaborate with other members of the group for this.

* PRIMARY DATA: Your study must be based on essentially PRIMARY data.

That is, you must source the information for yourself through observations in your chosen study area, administering questionnaires or interviewing individuals.

It is illegal and therefore unacceptable to simply copy information from any form of literature and present that in its entirety as your study. This is SECONDARY data and you can be charged for plagiarism (stealing thoughts from others works).

* WORD LIMIT: There is a limit to the number of words for the study. It should not exceed 1,500 words in length. You will be penalised should you go beyond this.

* PRESENTATION: The study can be handwritten, but must be legible (easily read) or techno-logically aided (typewritten). Whatever you do, it MUST BE NEAT AND TIDY.

* SKETCH MAPS: The study must include sketch maps of your study area. The recommendation is that there should be two of them.

* ILLUSTRATIONS: The study must include illustrations; for example, sketches, graphs, charts, diagrams, photographs. It is recommended that you have at least three different types.

In the next lesson, I will go into more details on different aspects of the study.

* Marjorie Henry is Geography teacher at Glenmuir High School in Clarendon.