DepEd sets career assessment exam on Nov 20 and 27

Citing strong demand from students, parents, and school officials, the Department of Education will allow a synchronized administration of a Special National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE). In Memorandum 257, the DepEd said the NCAE will coincide with the conduct of the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) in late November. "The special administration of NCAE shall coincide with the conduct of the PEPT on November 20, 2011 (Sunday) for Luzon examinees and on November 27, 2011 (Sunday) for Visayas and Mindanao examinees," the DepEd said in a news release. "Division Testing Coordinators (DTC) are instructed to consolidate the requests from public and private schools and provide National Educational Test and Research Center (NETRC) with the final list of the of the Special NCAE examinees by November 14 for Luzon and November 21 for Visayas and Mindanao," it added. The memorandum said the testing centers for PEPT shall also serve as venues for the administration of the Special NCAE. It added the examinees for Special NCAE shall have a separate room preferably at the last room for identification purposes. The DepEd earlier said the NCAE is now administered for third-year high school students both in public and private secondary schools. Also allowed to take the NCAE are fourth-year high school students who are applying for scholarship programs offered by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). “We deem it better to administer the NCAE to third-year high school students to give them sufficient time for comprehensive career guidance before they enter the tertiary level," said DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro. The results of the NCAE will show the interest and career inclination of the student, whether it is technical-vocational, entrepreneurial, or a full college education course. “This way parents and students will be guided on what career track is best to take after high school graduation, and we want to remind people that the result of the NCAE is not mandatory but recommendatory," said Luistro. — LBG, GMA News