Z score – a dirty word that doesn’t go away, is the bane of all who confront it

This method was introduced a few years ago to kill two birds with one stone. One was to restrict entry into the University as there are only places for 15% or less of those who sit A level exams. The second was to arrive at a different cut off mark for districts so that there is a fair representation across the country. This simple concept that translated into an incomprehensible statistical figure, determined the fate of many a young man or woman in Sri Lanka, especially as it related to educated youth who wished to get a degree and rise up the greasy pole of employment. The two criteria were acted on by using the ubiquitous cut off mark known as the Z score that determined who got in and who is left out!

What it did mean is that even if one had 3 A’s at A levels, one was not certain of getting into the University of your choice or any at all, if there were thousands ahead of one in the district. This happened this time round to an even greater extent. It must be remembered that 60% of schools only offer 3 subjects at A level, for which there is a reasonable carder of teacher, namely, Sinhala, Buddhist Civilization and Political Science. The problem is that even in the Kegalle District, I know for a fact that if you had 3 A’s in these subjects your District rank could be as high as 1000 meaning that in that subject stream that there are over a thousand with higher marks, and therefore the cut off to university could be up to rank 500. In theory there would be over 500 students who have achieved 3 As at A levels and could not obtain entrance into the University system.

The expectation of students and parents are then shattered as the value assigned to an A in these subjects is diminished and due to the use of standard deviations when a high population achieves high marks, the Z score could be low!

The dilemma is hard to comprehend. So it MUST be made clear to students following such subjects that even A grades are not sufficient to gain entry into University and it depends on how high the mark is for them to come within the space allocation.

It is important that these myths are quickly extinguished, and students led into courses that are needed and for which places are available, and not to ones that are tough to enter due to the supply which exceeds the places as in the case for these Arts and Social Sciences Courses. In my view the subjects referred to above should be drastically cut, as students following them have no chance whatsoever of entering University with them, and parents MUST be informed about it well in advance of disappointments, especially at the point they are chosen.