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University Entrance Examination

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For other admissions examinations, see List of admission tests to colleges and universities.
University Entrance Examination or Matriculation Examination
တက္ကသိုလ်ဝင်တန်း စာမေးပွဲ
TypePaper-based standardized test
AdministratorBoard of Examinations, Ministry of Education
Skills tested
PurposeAdmission to undergraduate programs of Burmese universities
Duration7 days
Score range0-600/700
OfferedOnce annually (in March)
Regions Myanmar
LanguagesBurmese, English
Annual number of test takers910,000(2020)
Prerequisites290,000(2020)
This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

The University Entrance Examination or Matriculation Examination (Burmese: တက္ကသိုလ်ဝင်တန်း စာမေးပွဲ) is an academic examination administered to 10th standard students at all schools in Myanmar, including government schools, comprehensive schools and private boarding schools, for students seeking university admission. The test is administered at least 3 weeks after the Basic Education High School Examination.[1] Test results determine the eligibility of high school students to pursue higher education, and their entrance into select universities and majors.

The current college admission system is being revised by the Ministry of Education.[2] Beginning in the 2015-16 academic year, students will be able to sit for entrance exams at the universities of their choice. Further, students will be allowed to retake such exams.[2]

Administration

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The University Entrance Examination is administered by the Board of Examinations.[3]

Each year, there are eleven question papers of equal format for Burmese states and regions.[4] The system of eleven test papers per year was adopted in 2001-02 to prevent the leakage of some questions prior to the exam administration.[4]

In Yangon, sales of alcohol are banned during matriculation exam administration.[5]

Since 2015, there are only two questions papers making equal formats for the whole country (Local Question) & for those taking from overseas (Oversea Question).

Registration

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Students from government high schools and comprehensive schools can register for the examinations internally by the guidelines of school teachers, although students from private boarding schools have to register for the exams externally themselves. Students who attend international English-language schools or other private schools are not eligible to sit for the matriculation exam, nor are they allowed to enroll in Burmese universities.[6]

Students nationwide take part in these exams annually, which take place in mid-March each year (for 9 days), with results released at testing sites throughout the country in June.[7]

Tested subjects

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Students are administered a combination of 6 or 7 papers depending on their track: arts, science, and arts and sciences. The subjects offered are Burmese, English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, Geography, Economics, and Optional Burmese. Each subject examination is 3 hours long from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.[8]

Exam scores

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High marks in a subject garner a distinction known as gondu (ဂုဏ်ထူး). Students who achieve distinctions in four or more subjects are generally guaranteed placement in one of Myanmar's medical universities and senior engineering universities, the most selective of all universities in Myanmar. In recent years, the combined score of students who receive 4 subject distinctions has been around 480 out of 600. The scores of students at remote testing sites are announced via shortwave radio.[9] Average exam scores and pass rates vary by region. In 2018, the highest pass rate was in Mandalay Region (38.17%), while the lowest pass rate was in Chin State.[10]

Also, the Top 10 Students, known as The Whole Burma Top 10, who scored the highest marks of all six subjects combined are announced each year corresponding to the sub-ordinate subjects taken. Out of 600 marks, the highest record-breaking marks achieved is 596 marks. With the added component of an optional 7th subject, the highest recorded marks achieved is 694. As the questions’ difficulties vary for each year, there is no fixed marks in entering the Whole Burma Top 10 list. However, one can predict entering the list if around 570 marks is achieved.

Statistics

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Below are statistics regarding the number of test takers and annual pass rate by academic year. Examinations were cancelled in the 2020-21 academic year, due to COVID-19 related school closures.[11] Since the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, the number of test takers has declined precipitously due to political instability, and participation of student and teachers in the nationwide civil disobedience movement.[11][12]

Academic year Test takers Pass rate
2006-07[13] TBD 36.76%
2007-08[14] TBD 29.63%
2008-09[14] TBD 30%
2009-10 TBD TBD
2010-11[15] TBD 32.43%
2011-12 TBD TBD
2012-13[16] TBD 35.12%
2013-14[17] 541,946 31.67%
2014-15[18][19] 597,950 37.60%
2015-16[18] 636,237 29.92%
2016-17[20][19] 716,190 33.89%
2017-18[20] 789,845 32.82%
2018-19[20][21] 851,570 31.44%
2019-20[22][23] 910,229 32.06%
2020-21 Cancelled Cancelled
2021-22[24][22] 281,751 46.88%
2022-23[24][25] 161,851 67.87%
2023-24 TBD TBD

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Myanmar" (PDF). World Data on Education. 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b May Thinzar Naing (18 May 2015). "University application process to be reformed". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Announcement for submitting matriculation exam applications" (PDF). The New Light of Myanmar. 2007-09-14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  4. ^ a b Kirkpatrick, Robert; Hmone Lian Hlaing (29 May 2013). "The Myanmar university entrance examination". Language Testing in Asia. 3 (14). Springer.
  5. ^ Ye Ye Htwe and Shwe Yinn Mar Oo (2008-03-10). "No booze as students cram for their exams". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  6. ^ "Burma Considers Private Education". The Irrawaddy. 2009-11-18. Archived from the original on 2010-10-05. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  7. ^ Min Zaw (2008-03-17). "Parents feel the stress of matriculation". Myanmar Times. Archived from the original on 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  8. ^ "Timetable of 2010 matriculation examination announced". New Light of Myanmar. 2009-12-19. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  9. ^ Aung Shin (2010-06-13). "Result of matriculation exam on air through Radio Myanmar". New Light of Myanmar. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  10. ^ "၂၀၁၈ ခုနှစ် တက္ကသိုလ်ဝင်စာမေးပွဲ ပြည်နယ်နှင့်တိုင်းဒေသကြီးအလိုက် အောင်ချက်နှင့် ဂုဏ်ထူးဦးရေပြဇယား" (PDF). ၂၀၁၈ - တက္ကသိုလ်ဝင် စာမေးပွဲအောင်စာရင်း.
  11. ^ a b "For Myanmar's youth, college becomes another casualty of country's turmoil". Radio Free Asia. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  12. ^ "Myanmar's school system in shambles since coup as high school exam-takers plunge 80%". Radio Free Asia. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  13. ^ "Maj-Gen Tha Aye honours outstanding students, teachers of Kayin State" (PDF). New Light of Myanmar. 2007-12-27.
  14. ^ a b Aung Shin (2010-06-15). "Results of matriculation exams posted". Myanmar Times. Archived from the original on 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  15. ^ "Data Collection Survey on Education Sector in Myanmar - Final Report" (PDF). JACA. February 2013.
  16. ^ "Exam passing rate at No. 8 BEHS of Moulmein tops 90 percent". Burma News International. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  17. ^ "Myanmar's matriculation exam results show declined pass rate - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  18. ^ a b "Matriculation exam pass rate down 7.68 pct in Myanmar this year - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  19. ^ a b "Myanmar: number of students who appeared for matriculation examination". Statista. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  20. ^ a b c "Over 850,000 students participate in Myanmar's matriculation exam". Xinhua. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  21. ^ "Myanmar posts 31.44 pct matriculation exam pass rate in 2018-2019 academic year - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  22. ^ a b "Over 132,000 students pass university entrance exam in Myanmar". Xinhua. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  23. ^ "Myanmar gov't to confer basic education completion certificates to students". Xinhua. 2020-08-14.
  24. ^ a b "Over 160,000 students sit for matriculation exam in Myanmar". Xinhua. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  25. ^ "Over 67 pct of students pass university entrance exam in Myanmar". Xinhua. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
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