Deputy Education Minister calls for changes to O-NET med school test following criticism

BANGKOK, 11 February 2016 (NTT) - The Deputy Education Minister has instructed administrators of the O-NET test for medical schools to revise the exam following harsh criticism in the online community, which indicated that the questions are excessively difficult.

Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Charoensethasin spoke in response to the recent publicizing of O-NET test results and questions on various social media platforms, which resulted in harsh criticism from the online community.

The test consisted of nine subjects and serves as the admissions exam for medical schools. The test had been designed to be more difficult than the general O-NET test, resulting in lower average scores.

Dr Teerakiat revealed that the medical school test has been criticized for the ambiguity of its questions, as well as its failure to fulfill its goal of being a reliable metric for academic potential. He has therefore instructed the writers of the test to restructure the content of the exam and to provide schools and students with clear guidelines and an extensive resource database.


-- NNT 2016-02-11

How many education ministers, in the last 10 years? Must be a vey good trough!

Great, now everyone can be a Doctor

O-NET test to difficult, A-NET test to difficult. Hmmm, have they ever stopped to think for a moment that maybe the students are just not that bright. How can they be with a ridiculous no fail policy.

Didn't thailand want to be the medical hun in asean? Lower the standards for getting into medical school. Unbelievable!

Next will be lowering of standards for all 0- net tests so that other countries won't see Thais as uneducated.

Education sure doesn't mean what it used to.

I've often passed this school in Pattaya and wondered what the other schools are.

Oh dear; can't have tough tests can we? No; have to dumb them down to primary school level to match the lowest IQ in Asia !

Sure make the tests easier. We definitely need dumber doctors.

Two weeks ago I watched a Thai teacher give students all the answers to an O-net practice test. I asked one of my students to confirm what I'd seen. Her reply was "Yes. Stupid isn't it".

Things are just too difficult in Thailand.

It seems to me that these tests do not equate with what is taught in schools. So, kids end up having to go to tutorial schools to study what they think they should be learning. Yet they still fail. If the tests are at the appropriate level and follow the stated curriculum, then there should be no problem getting a good score on the tests, like it is in places like Australia that have a very specific curriculum, and stat exams follow exactly what is in the curriculum. If anyone has seen the Thai curriculum and syllabus documents, you will see how vague they are. How can one teach when one doesn't know WHAT to teach! Education is big business in Thailand. It's not much to do with having students actually learn something and become productive citizens.

O-NET test to difficult, A-NET test to difficult. Hmmm, have they ever stopped to think for a moment that maybe the students are just not that bright. How can they be with a ridiculous no fail policy.

O-Net is a BS exam and therefore can be difficult. Answer this question if you're so smart:

Near my house there is a... A) river mountain C) lake D) beach

O-NET test to difficult, A-NET test to difficult. Hmmm, have they ever stopped to think for a moment that maybe the students are just not that bright. How can they be with a ridiculous no fail policy.

O-Net is a BS exam and therefore can be difficult. Answer this question if you're so smart:

Near my house there is a... A) river mountain C) lake D) beach

The correct answer is A) river. Why? Well, because the examiner decided so. The other 3 are clearly wrong, because...well just because, damnit

I guess all we can do is sit back and shake our heads.. and wonder ... lack of iodine really must have really factored in for those Education officials..

I often start my exams with:

Q1. What is your name?

Q2. What is your student number?

Most SS answer question one correctly.

They will also find a space at the top of the exam paper, just above the first two question, to write their name and student number.

I took a look at the O-NET tests. Many questions are set so that multiple choices seem correct, or none of them. Some make no sense at all.

Oh my!

Two weeks ago I watched a Thai teacher give students all the answers to an O-net practice test. I asked one of my students to confirm what I'd seen. Her reply was "Yes. Stupid isn't it".

What's the problem? It's a pretty common revision strategy to go through past exams or practice tests.

I think not an issue of dumbing down or lowering standards..

But perhaps making the test able to better assess students knowledge and remove any questions that are subjective.

As all should have 1 clear answer and all others can be logically proven to be wrong

Not up to the opinion of the one writing the questions

Remember one from a few years ago asking "what Thai food do foreigners like the most?"

- how could there be 1 correct answer to this? Do all foreigners like the same things and all have same tastes?

Or if you start feeling like you want to have sex. What should you do?

- wrong answer- talk to your parents

- correct answer- play Football

So this goes for everyone? Even the the kid with 1 leg down the block? Or the neighbor girl who prefer badminton and hates football?

O-NET test to difficult, A-NET test to difficult. Hmmm, have they ever stopped to think for a moment that maybe the students are just not that bright. How can they be with a ridiculous no fail policy.

O-Net is a BS exam and therefore can be difficult. Answer this question if you're so smart:

Near my house there is a... A) river mountain C) lake D) beach

The correct answer is A) river. Why? Well, because the examiner decided so. The other 3 are clearly wrong, because...well just because, damnit

It's sad isn't it! That is exactly how they set and mark the exams, there's no re-hash of the exam by the teacher or students, it's just plow on!