Garden Valley Collegiate students enrolled in the Senior 4 "first-credit" English courses received their marks for the provincial examination in mid-February. Students in the Transactional, Literary and Core courses all wrote the same exam, which counted for 30 per cent of their final mark.

The provincial exam is not a content exam, but a skills and reading comprehension test. The exam blends both Transactional and Literary materials.

The average student score for G.V.C. improved two percentage points in the January 1998 exam. Eighty-seven per cent of the 54 students who wrote the exam achieved at least a passing score. Their performance almost matches the provincial average, which was 87.9 per cent. Unfortunately, seven G.V.C. students were unsuccessful in their exam efforts.

Mr. Gary Hornung, head of the G.V.C. English Department, commented that it would be better if the exam were written by students in their Senior 3 year. Such an arrangement would give students an opportunity in their final year of high school to improve and develop their weak skills. The current approach indicates areas in which students are weak but does not allow them to develop and learn from their performance.