Pretoria - A total of 182 083 physical science learners are expected to sit for the three-hour Physical Science Paper 1, which will be written nationally on Thursday.
On Monday, 527 335 full time learners and 120 352 part time candidates kicked off their National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams with English Home Language, First and Second Additional Language at 6 670 examination centres.
The exams will end on 28 November, and over 7.4 million scripts will be marked by 35 000 markers at the 118 marking centres. Marking is expected to be completed by 14 December across all provincial education departments.
The Department of Basic Education has recommitted to continue with its agenda of building a credible, national examination and assessment system.
"The writing of the examinations will be monitored by Basic Education, Provincial Education Departments and Umalusi, and schools with previous irregularities will be closely monitored.
"Training of markers is on-going and specialised training sessions will be organised prior to the marking sessions. National Marking Guideline discussions will be hosted in Pretoria for all subjects to ensure standardisation of marking across all Provincial Education Departments.
"All chief invigilators and invigilators are officially appointed for the duration of the examination and are made aware of the responsibility," the department said.
The results will be thoroughly checked by Basic Education, Provincial Education Departments and Umalusi from 23 - 27 December.
Umalusi approval meeting is to be held on 27 December 2012 and results will be released on 3 January 2013. - SAnews.gov.za
