Gauteng’s matric exams kick off without incident

According to the department, no incidents or irregularities were reported.

“All districts reported that the distribution of question papers proceeded well and most schools started on time,” said the department’s spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane.

The department had established a war room to monitor the exam process and also had a rapid response team on standby.

About 140 000 pupils across the province wrote English Home Language and First Additional Language papers on 27 October.

This year, Gauteng registered a total of 101 265 full-time candidates and 42 382 part-time candidates.

Matric examinations for Independent Examinations Board candidates started on 21 October.

The provincial education department offered pupils some tips for their exam:

• Use old tests and past-year examination papers to prepare for your exams.
• When revising, read aloud rather than silently.
• Study actively using the RCRC method: Read a section, Cover the notes, Recite what you read in your own words and Check what you said and go over the points you missed.
• Do not study a topic only once. If you have more time, revise for your studies twice or three times.
• In preparation for maths and accounting exams, do as many problems as you can. Don’t just read problem and solution, but work them out.
• Once you are told to begin the exam, read through the entire paper quickly. This may assist you to choose the easy questions and do them first, tackling the more difficult ones later.
• Monitor your time to ensure you don’t spend too much time on one question.
• If you run out of time, answer in point form instead of complete sentences.
• If there are questions you are struggling with, move on as there could be other questions you could answer more easily.
• Understand question instructions such as contrast: state differences; define: state what something means; explain: give reasons; identify: name or select features and describe: say what you see or notice.
• Remember to put units in your answers if they are needed, such as km and m².
• Consider the number of marks allocated to a question as a guideline for the scope of your answer.
• In multiple choice questions, if you see two or three correct options, then the option “all of the above” is a strong possibility.
• In multiple choice exams, where you do not lose points for incorrect answers, always guess, even if you do not know the correct answer.