What Is Matriculation In South Africa?
In South Africa, matriculation (or matric) is the final year of high school and the qualification received on graduating from high school, and the minimum university entrance requirements. The first formal examination was conducted in South Africa under the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1858.
In general usage, the school-leaving exams, which are government-administered, are known as the “matric exams”; by extension, students in the final year of high school (grade 12) are known as “matriculants” or, more commonly, “matrics”. Once the Matric year has been passed, students are said to have “matriculated”.
National Senior Certificate In South Africa
Officially, the qualification obtained at the end of secondary schooling is the National Senior Certificate, and the school-leaving examinations are the “Senior Certificate Examinations”. The National Senior Certificate can be completed through either the Department of Education or the Independent Examination Board.
Students who fulfill certain requirements (an achievement rating of 4 (50% – 59%) or better in four (4) designated subjects) in their Senior Certificate results receive a Matriculation Endorsement/Bachelor’s Pass on their certificates; this endorsement is the minimum requirement for admission to a bachelor’s degree at any South African university, set by the Department of Basic Education.
Students applying to a South African university with foreign school qualifications can obtain a “Matriculation Exemption” to show that they meet the same standards.
This multiple meaning can lead to confusion; for example, the statement that a person “passed matric” or “has their matric” may mean either that they received a Senior Certificate (i.e. they finished high school) or specifically that they received a Senior Certificate with Matriculation Endorsement (i.e. they are eligible to enter university).
Do South African Universities Set Their Own Exams?
South African universities do not set their own entrance examinations, although many use standardized entrance tests of linguistic, numerical and mathematical ability, called the National Benchmark Tests, split into the AQL Test (Academic and Quantitative Literacy) and the Mathematics Test.
Before the 1990s, the standard Matric Certificate with Endorsement was worded as “Examination result – Passed with full exemption”. This wording meant that the candidate passed their NSC exams with exemption from entrance exams when applying for University entrance. As of 2005, the new passing standards are Certificate, Diploma, and Bachelor.
The Standards And Curriculum Of The National Certification Exams
Subjects are taken on the same level – the earlier higher/standard grade split is obsolete. The three pass levels have different requirements. The higher certificate requires 40% or higher in the home language as well as in two other subjects and at least 30% in three other subjects. Students who pass the matric with a higher certificate level cannot enroll for a university degree nor a diploma at any institution of higher learning.
The mean mark in any subject is approximately 55. Only a small proportion of candidates score an ‘A’ in any subject (from as little as 2% to a maximum of about 10% in subjects taken by highly select groups). A further 8 – 15% are likely to gain a ‘B’ and about 20 – 25% achieve a ‘C’ grade. The National Senior Certificate is a group certificate and records an aggregate mark.
Students study at least seven subjects: two of the eleven official South African languages one of which must be at “home language” level, either Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy, Life Orientation, and three elective subjects. Students have the option of either taking the NSC (National Senior Certificate) or the NCV (National Certificate Vocational).
How Many Matriculants In South Africa 2020
In 2020, 750,478 learners enrolled for Matric, but only thirty-five percent (35%) of them wrote the final Maths exam. Twenty percent (20%) of the Grade 12 students passed.
