Running head: Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in

Kazakhstan

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan

Didar Zhakanbayev

Pennsylvania State University

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 2

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in

Kazakhstan

Introduction

University entrance exam in Kazakhstan is a topic of great significance to both schools,

school graduates and their parents. Each year thousands of students take the test and apply for

colleges, stepping out to adulthood, pursuing their goals and building their careers. For these

purposes students take Unified National Test (UNT), which is a required school completion test

for all students and at the same time a college entrance exam (Ministry of Education and Science

of the Republic of Kazakhstan). However, there are still debates among scholars and

professionals in the field of education on this issue, whether UNT adequately measures the full

academic potential of students and objectively assesses their knowledge and skills. For that

reason, this paper first analyzes and critiques the UNT as a college entrance exam. Secondly,

looking for SATs best practices, which is now internationally competitive, and identifying

strengths of the SAT examination in supporting student learning and applying them to the UNT

(A. Ripley, 2014). To do so, this paper begins with an overview of the essential features of UNT

in detail followed then by the limitations of UNT in its newly designed format. Finally, several

recommendations for further improvement of the UNT based on SAT best practices are offered.

Concerning the lack of authentic Kazkahstani scholarly articles about the current issue, some

data in this paper are taken from newspaper articles, interviews and news websites.

Overview of the Education System in Kazakhstan

Since Kazakhstan was a part of the former USSR, Russian language plays a significant

role in political, economic, education and many other spheres of the country. It is important to
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 3

mention that the official language in Kazakhstan is Kazakh language, and Russian language is

also officially used alongside with Kazakh in the state organizations and bodies of local self-

government (Constitution of RK, 1997). For that reason, the education system consisted of

bilingual curricula Kazakh and Russian for many years, both for schools and colleges. Until

now many efforts have been made to reform the education in Kazakhstan. Some were successful,

some just failed. For instance, Kazakhstani higher education governance and leadership is

gradually being modernized to the standards of western higher education institutions (Canning,

et al., 2013). There was also a massive project called E-learning, which was intended to help

the pedagogues at schools get rid of frustrating paper work, provide with platform where

teachers could find materials for specific school subjects, free internet access in the classroom,

and many other great features, but failed its mission, as many schools were not ready for such a

rapid change (D. Sapargaliyev, 2013). One of the most recent projects started by the Ministry of

Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MESRK) is implementing a trilingual

education system, adding English as a language of instruction for science subjects (Kazinform,

2016). But this issue is beyond the scope of the current paper. Currently, the majority of schools

teach subjects in Kazakh language (KL schools), however, there are also many recognized

schools that use Russian as a main language of instruction (RL schools). According to the data of

the Agency of Statistics from 2013, the total number of schools reached 7529. Among them, the

number of Kazakh language schools were 3838 (51 %), whereas the Russian language schools

were 1442 (19,2 %). In addition to that, the Agency reports that 2161 (28,7 %) schools were

bilingual and used both Kazakh and Russian, sometimes more (English) languages for classroom

instructions. The rest of 83 (1,1 %) schools were ethnic minority schools who also use their
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 4

ethnic languages for classroom instruction: Uzbek, Uyghur, Tadjik, etc. (The Agency for

Statistics of RK).

The University Admission Process

The university admission process in Kazakhstani higher education is much simpler than

in the US. There are only two required documents for application, one is a certificate of school

completion and the other is a certificate earned after taking the Unified National Test (UNT). The

higher a student scores, the more chances he/she has to be awarded a government grant, which

covers full tuition and fees and gives a monthly stipend to students. However, any student who

passes with the minimum score is able to apply for college on a self-funded basis. The outside

classroom achievements in sports, arts, etc. are not taken into consideration in the admission

process as it is in the USA, unless the students have been awarded in either the Republic Subject

Olympiads or the International Subject and Project Olympiads (MESRK). Such students are very

few compared to the whole number of graduates, since these are very difficult competitions. For

that reason, the awardees in those Olympiads are released from taking the UNT and are given

government grants directly. The result of this system is that the majority of students have to

prepare and take the UNT in order to attend college, which is why it is considered to be the most

important examination for school students in Kazakhstan.

The History of the Unified National Test of Kazakhstan

The testing system in Kazakhstan started first in 1992. A Republic Test Center was

established to identify the knowledge level of secondary school graduates and applicants for

colleges. Starting from 1995, all universities began using the testing system for assessment of

midterms and finals. In 1999, a new testing system was designed to provide an equitable higher
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 5

education admission to institutions and serve as a transparent mechanism of assessment, as well

as awarding students with grants and loans for studies (Reviews of National Policies for

Education: Higher Education in Kazakhstan, 2007). The reason why a new testing system was

introduced then was to overcome corruption that occurred when the subjective college entrance

examination was used. In 2004, another change happened and the testing system was newly

introduced as UNT, which served not only as a knowledge assessment examination for secondary

education at schools, but also as a college entrance exam. UNT was developed as an independent

assessment system for school education to determine the quality of public school graduates, and

grading their level of acquired knowledge by means of education standards set by the Ministry of

Education and Science (K. Bokayev., 2012).

Structure of the Initial UNT

Since the UNT was first introduced in 2004, the format of the examination has been

modified a couple of times. The first format consisted of four subjects totaling 120 questions,

with time allotted 3 hours to complete the examination. The test was comprised of the following

types of questions:

Kazakh Language 30 questions (Russian Language for RL school students);

History of Kazakhstan 30 questions;
Mathematics 30 questions,
Additional subject 30 questions,

The additional subject was chosen independently and should have been related to the future

occupation that a student intended to obtain:

Physics for Engineering, Information Technology;

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 6

Biology for Biotechnology, Doctor;

History for Lawyer;

English for Interpreters, International Relations; etc.

These tests had some tricks in its structure. Each subject contained 30 questions with five

multiple choices. The answers were divided evenly among the options, meaning that, 6 questions

had answer A, 6 B, 6 C, 6 D and 6 E. This structure could help eliminate options for

answering and rely on guessing the answer, which means the student might not have known the

real answer. However, after being used for four years, this element was removed from the test

when it was revised and slightly modified 2008.

Revised Unified National Test

The next format of the UNT was implemented in 2008 with slight modifications

(Kazinform, 2013). In the new format an additional compulsory subject was added to the initial

three subjects. As a result, graduates of KL schools had to take a test on an additional subject, the

Russian language. Students who graduated from RL schools and other ethnic minority schools

also had to take a test on additional subject, the Kazakh language. Number of questions for each

subject was decreased to 25, and the total number of questions became 125. The time allotted for

students to complete the examination was increased to 3 hours 30 minutes.

However, the score obtained from these additional subjects would not be assessed for

college entrance, but only appear as a mark in the certificate of school completion. The main

reason for this change was to prioritize Kazakh language and enforce its learning for all school

students, regardless of nationality, by linking it with the UNT. And in order to avoid conflict and
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 7

misunderstanding from RL school students and non-Kazakh speaking citizens, the Ministry of

Education applied this change to KL schools, including Russian subject to the test. As I

mentioned earlier, the Russian language is equally considered with the status of the official

language, which is Kazakh, and learning both languages is more promising for citizens and the

nation than knowing only one.

Comparison of UNT Results by years

Figure 1. The average results of test takers by years. (MESRK)

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 8

The Figure 1 above illustrates data about the number of all test takers, the participation

percentage compared to the number of all school graduates, and the percentage of test takers who

failed to achieve a passing score of 50 points in Kazakhstan between 2004 and 2016, while the

upper line graph shows the average UNT point results in these years. Turning to the bar graph

there are three different information for each year. The blue bar is the total number of

participants (in thousands), the green bar is the percentage of participants from total number of

school graduates, and the yellow bar is the percentage of participants who failed to achieve a

passing score of 50 points in the UNT. For instance, lets take the year 2016. In 2016, 84

thousand students took the test, which was a 69 % of all school graduate for that year. That

means the total number of students who graduated from school in 2016 was slightly under 122

thousand (100%). 38 thousand (31%) students just did not enter the exam. Among those 84

thousand test takers 17% (14 thousand) of students failed to get 50 points in UNT. And 81 on the

upper line is an average result of all test takers out of 125 test questions or point. Additionally, it

is important to mention that, the initial format of UNT test was used from 2004 till 2007, with

120 points in total. Starting from 2008 it was followed by the new format of 125 points over the

9 years. Most noticeable of all is that the number of participants fluctuated for the first 8 years,

then experienced a gradual decrease from 2012 to 2015. During the initial four years, the average

result points increased gradually, while the percentage of those who scored under 50 fluctuated.

For the next 3 years, the percentage of participants, who failed to achieve a passing score

witnessed a moderate decline, before reaching its lowest level of 9 in 2011. However, the

average result points on upper line plumped to 87 by reaching its pick point for that time.

Moreover, the percentage of failure declined gradually for the last 4 years, while the average

result points experienced opposite trend.

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 9

And here are the exact numbers for UNT 2016 provided by the National Test Center

(2016).

Number of applications from student willing to take test 86999 (71,85% of school

graduates population)
Population of Kazakh lang. applicants 63025 (75,63% of total KL school graduates)
Population of Russian lang. applicants 23974 (63,49% of total RL school graduates)
Attended the test 84041 students (KL 61706 students; RL 22335 students)
Scored 0-49 14252 students (16,96% of test takers failed to achieve a passing score)
Scored 50-124 59789 students (83% of all who attended the test)
Scored 125 19 students scored the highest point possible

These numbers show us that the overall result was quite good. However, when we look at

the number of student who failed to reach the passing score, it shows us that there are still plenty

of job to do in order to reduce that number, and increase the percentage of participants among all

school graduates. For instance, a detailed analysis of which country area results are particularly

lower than others are necessary, compare the city school results with country school results, find

out where are the most student who dont apply to take the test, identify the low performing

schools. Such actions should help schools to work better with students, and lead to better results

in UNT.

A Need for Supplementary Resources for College Applicants

Kazakhstani school students start to think about UNT in their junior year at school by

taking trial tests. Students do not have any additional resources to find out more about

universities, majors, and tuition fees. The only source of information may be teachers at school

who care about their students, or relatives who may study or work at a college. But apart from

that, there are limited resources to find out more about higher education in Kazakhstan (Reviews

of National Policies for Education Higher Education in Kazakhstan, 2007). Unlike Kazakhstan,
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 10

American school students have a lot of resources at their disposal to learn about higher education

opportunities. For instance, U.S. News rankings can give insights to students about the colleges

in which they are interested. Such information helps students make comparisons among colleges

in order to select one would like to attend; the cost, the place, the prestige, and all other variables

are available. As the students prepare for UNT, to apply for college, they should have access to

such information, and take into consideration the variables like where they want to study, can

his/her family afford to pay for tuition in case he/she cannot get a government grant. This will

help students set their goals for the test and be more focused for preparation to UNT

(RNPE:HEK, 2007).

Limitations of the UNT

There are a lot of debates on this issue whether UNT really measures students

knowledge, and if it is the finest assessment tool, as being both school completion exam and

college entrance exam at the same time. One of the common arguments about UNT not being a

good assessment tool is because the focus in educational process of graduates is aimed to

memorizing and training on given materials (Kultumanova, et al. 2012). In the publication of

Analysis of Common National Testing (CNT/UNT) Results (2012), the authors have identified

the reasons for negative dynamics of UNT results. The majority of them are closely related to

pedagogues and their qualifications:

They emphasized the low qualification level of pedagogues, and lack of pedagogical staff

in labor market, which has led to insufficient level of professional competences of some

pedagogues in individual supporting approach, and low level of implementation of effective

educational methods. In addition to that, it has also insufficiently affected the level of analytical
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 11

work of educators in school methodological units in terms of analysis of the UNT results and

trial testing.

The followings are some more factors negatively effecting the testing results of students

accented by the authors:

Low level of motivation of the graduates in educational process.

Lack of parental control over the preparation process for UNT.

The Unified National Test has several limitations. Some questions on the test require

detailed answers, whereas the others are too simple. For instance, here is a UNT question taken

from preparation website testent.ru on geography which is formulated very simply and require

one correct answer (UNT sample question):

A Member State of the G-7 is:

A) Italy.

B) Portugal.

C) The Australian Union.

D) Greece.

E) Spain.

In this question, a student either knows the answer or he/she does not. The student cannot find

answer without any sort of clue, hints or extra information given, to compare, analyze and come

up to the right answer, unless he/she memorized it in the past.

Students may memorize the dates of a certain war period from history, but may not know

why that war happened. They can memorize a theorem from physics or math, but may not

understand what it is about. UNT does not require enough level of analysis and critical thinking,
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 12

which are seen in many worldwide known tests. To some extent, it allows to apply the acquired

knowledge to get to the correct answer, but only in few subjects, for instance, math, physics,

chemistry in these subjects, students can find the correct answer by using formulas, which they

should have memorized in advance, to be able to use them during the test. In Reviews of

National Policies for Education: Higher Education in Kazakhstan (2007) the authors said UNT

is incapable of assessing the problem-solving and critical thinking skills, logic, analyzing, and

other necessary skills at college level. (RNPE:HEK, 2007).

The UK national agency for the recognition and comparison of international

qualifications and skills (NARIC) claims that the UNT is rated as an indicator of a lower level of

knowledge and skills than the basic qualification at the end of school or admission to a university

in Britain (RNPE:HEK, 2007) . It is also considered below the level of Baculaurare in France,

Abitur in Germany, or examinations for admission to universities in most European countries

(RNPE:HEK, 2007) . European exams, such as given above, enable students to show what they

have learned; the UNT does not do this. UNT does not cover all the key subjects studied by

school students, and contains only questions with multiple answers. The possibilities of such

tests are limited (RNPE:HEK, 2007). Another problem with the UNT is that it is not calibrated,

meaning that it has not been psychometrically tested for reliability, which would ensure the

conformity of a passing score or an assessment of the same level of knowledge and skills from

year to year (Damitov et al., 2006). As a result, young people look at the university as the only

way to acquire qualifications that are in demand in the labor market.

Limitations of the UNT are admitted by many, including the Ministry of Education and

Science (MESRK) itself and the members of Kazakhstani Parliament. The MESRK had
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 13

difficulties with the reform of the UNT due to a lack of specialists in the development of tests in

the country. Therefore, a separate project required the participation of international experts in the

development of curricula, qualifications, and tests. Finally, in 2016 the newest format of UNT

was designed and is to be implemented starting in 2017.

UNT New Format

As MESRK stated in their website, in November 2016, the newest format of UNT was

introduced to the public, and this format will be initially used for 2017 school graduates. This

change of introducing a new UNT format was caused by the fact that students, teachers, parents

perceived UNT only as an entrance examination to the university. The number of participants has

never been 100% of all school graduates. There is no such objective like that. However, if the

highest possible number of students among the total number of school graduates attended the

test, that would give a clearer picture of the secondary education level of the country than it is

right now. For the last four years, the percentage of those who are not participating in the UNT

has gone slightly over 30 percent. This means that according to the results of the UNT it is quite

difficult to draw objective conclusions, and see the most accurate current state of the quality of

secondary education in Kazakhstan. Say that a half of those 30 percent of student population who

did not attend the test, had failed to achieve the 50-point passing score, the overall trend and the

average would have changed dramatically. The new format has various changes compared to the

older version. From now on the students are to take two exams; one to obtain a certificate of

secondary education, without this certificate a student is not considered to have finished

secondary education and cannot apply for college. The second one is for college entrance and

granting system, but students do not have to take this test, if he/she does not wish to study at the
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 14

university. The first test will be held in schools for graduates from five subjects, of which four

are compulsory and one is optional (UNT is not Rubicon anymore, 2017):

Native language and literature in the form of an essay on any of proposed three topics.

Time allotted for this written work is three hours, during which it is necessary to

determine the main idea, formulate the problem, state the arguments and draw a general

conclusion.
Kazakh language in schools with Russian, Uzbek, Uighur and Tajik languages of

instruction. Russian language in schools with Kazakh language of instruction this exam

will be conducted in the form of testing. The time allotted is 80 minutes for the following

blocks: listening - 10 questions (two texts), reading - 10 questions (two texts) and Lexico-

grammatical part with 20 questions.

History of Kazakhstan oral examination. Student will be given tickets, each of which

has 3 questions: two questions based on the theory of material and one question based on

creativity, using the data given in form of historical maps, charts, chronological tables. If

the students cannot answer for the selected ticket, he is given the right to take another

one, but this time with a lower score.

Algebra and the beginning of the analysis in written form. Within 5 hours, student will be

required to perform 5 tasks aimed at revealing the degree of mastering mathematical

facts, concepts and techniques, the ability to solve applied and logistical problems.
Subjects of choice. Students will choose the fifth subject themselves among: physics,

chemistry, biology, geography, geometry, world history, literature, computer science,

foreign language (English, French, German). Testing on the fifth subject will last 80

minutes. The test consists of 40 tasks: 20 questions with a choice of one correct answer
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 15

from 5 offered and 20 questions with the choice of several correct answers from the set of

suggested ones.

Evaluation of written and oral exams, as well as test answer sheets, will be checked at the

school by the examination board on the subject on the basis of the codes of correct answers given

to them. All final examinations will be held on the basis of the school at the place of their

education.

These tests will help students get their secondary education certificates without the

pressure and fear of failing the college entrance exam. Because the result of these tests will not

have any negative impact on the second exam, on the contrary, if the student gets high results

from the first test, it will be a great motivation to perform the same or better in second exam.

It is difficult to say anything certain about how this new format will affect the student

population in the upcoming years. But what is certain is that parents of school graduates will

support them in attending the college.

The second exam will consist of 2 blocks, which includes 3 compulsory subjects with 20

questions and 2 profile subjects with 30 questions:

Mathematical literacy
Literacy reading (checking the ability to generalize, compare, compare, etc.)
History of Kazakhstan
2 profile subjects (mathematics + physics, mathematics + geography, history +

geography, biology + chemistry, biology + geography, foreign language + history,

language of instruction and literature (Kazakh or Russian) + history, geography + Foreign

language, chemistry + physics, history + Man, Society, Law., Creative exam)

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 16

A total of number of questions 120. The time allotted for testing is 3 hours and 30

minutes. The passing score of 50 points remained unchanged. This leads to a question whether

the test designers did it on purpose or it was something the new format borrowed from the old

version.

A Comparison of Old and New UNT Formats

This table is replicated from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of

Kazakhstan (MESRK).

The table above shows the main differences of old and new format. Total number of

questions decreased from 125 to 120, the points considered for government grants changed from

100 to 140, the taught language subject was replaced by reading literacy, and chosen subject

increased from 1 to 2 profile subject. The task of reading literacy tests for the following skills:

skills to generalize, compare, contrast, match, etc. Tasks for the reading literacy were added to

the UNT, because while studying at the university, the entrant will have to work with different

sources, analyze these sources, compare information from these sources and draw conclusions.
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 17

These skills will be valuable for high school graduates in their subsequent college education.

(MESRK)

Profile subjects (listed above) are required to identify which major the student is willing

or planning to obtain. They will consist of 20 questions with a choice of one correct answer from

five offered and 10 tasks with a choice of several correct answers from the set offered. Several

options of answers in the testing of core subjects make it possible to check how well entrants

know a particular topic. Also, testing with several options of answers prevents "memorization"

and guessing of answers. (MESRK)

The calculation of points in the new format of UNT

In the past, each correctly answered question used to be awarded a single point. However,

in the new UNT format, the calculation of points has slightly changed. In case of correctly

answering a question on the multiple-choice test; that is choosing 1 correct answer from 5

choices a single point is awarded. For the second block of the exam, which contains questions on

two profile subjects (physics + chemistry) 30 questions each. 20 questions are awarded with a

single point, and 10 questions are awarded by two points, if answered correctly, because those

questions have more than one correct answers. That makes 40 points for 30 questions from

physics and 40 points for 30 questions from chemistry. The maximum points possible to get will

be 140 (20+20+20+40+40).

To get a government grant, students have to perform at their best. The higher results they

get, the more chances they have to get a government grant. There are some majors such as vet,

farming, etc. where students are not fond of applying to. The programs of those majors usually

accept almost everyone who applies there, as long as the students score higher than 50 and
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 18

granting places are available. On the other hand, getting government grant for programs such as

international relations, financing, law, etc. is really difficult, because those fields of study are

extremely competitive, and every high scorer would like to go there.

Another new element of the test is that from now on, students will be able to re-take the

test two times, in case they fail the initial test, but will have to pay for it (MESRK). In previous

years, current school graduates could only take the test once a year. Such scheduling limited

students chances to retake the UNT in time to enter college with their classmates. This

circumstance caused some students to be left behind their cohort or classmates, and led to peer

pressure for not being able to start college at the same time with their peers (N. Makeenko,

2012). Furthermore, there were many cases with school graduates committing suicide as a result

of failing to get a good score from the test (D. Khisimova., I. Mednikova, 2015).

Best Practices of SAT

As for the SAT, this battery of tests includes both objectively and subjectively structured

questions focused on critical reading, mathematics, and writing sections. In these type of tests,

students use various skills and bring their knowledge into action. In this way, the knowledge

students have acquired is assessed through tasks rather than just by memorizing and storing

information to recall when needed.

The other advantage of SAT apart from quality content, is its flexible test dates and

validity period. The test is offered almost every month of the year. A student can arrange to take

the SAT based on his/her own suitable schedule, whenever he/she feels ready. That gives an

opportunity for junior and senior school students to take the test multiple times if the result was

unsatisfactory. The disadvantage of this retaking of the SAT, however, is that they will have to
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 19

pay multiple times. It is written on the College Board website that Students usually do better the

second time (College Board). In case the result was satisfactory, but the time to apply for

college was not appropriate for student, for instance, if some family issues like a divorce or a

member of a family passed away, or a student had a serious injury from an accident, or if a

student just wanted to take a gap year, SAT results are valid for five years, which is a great

advantage for the prospect student. He/she would not have to worry about taking the test again.

UNT vs. SAT

UNT is considered to be a college entrance exam, but at the same time a secondary

education evaluation test, which means the test questions are mostly based on the common

curriculum and the materials students have studied for the last seven years at school (MESRK).

Now, as UNT is divided into two exams, the first part will focus on student knowledge, and the

second will gradually change to focus on functional competences of students (UNT is not

Rubicon anymore, 2017).

SAT is considered to be a holistic test, and designed to test the quality competence of

students with a purpose of predicting college success, at least for freshman year at college (Ruth

Mitchell, 2006). It has no connection with any state or school curriculum, because the USA

secondary education does not have a common curriculum, every States curriculum is designed

differently.

Although the structure of these two test have some similarities, there are still seen major

difference. As described in the new UNT format section of this paper, the task of reading literacy

is quite similar with SAT reading task. In both tests, a text on any general topic is given, and the
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 20

questions are aimed to test the students skills to skills to generalize, compare, contrast and

analyze the information to come up with the correct answer.

In SAT Math Test, most questions also look alike with UNT math questions. Except that

in SAT the formulas of geometric figures are given in reference part. That is something the UNT

could borrow from SAT. Because in UNT, the students are not allowed to use such references.

Instead, they have to memorize all of these formulas.

Figure 2. Geometric formulas given as reference in SAT Math Test (College Board)

Conclusion

To sum up, this paper has reviewed the overall education system of Kazakhstan, has

analyzed the unique features of the test and the role of UNT as college entrance exam. In

addition, it has identified some limitations relying on scholarly and authentic resources, and as a

last, made comparison of UNT with SAT.

Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 21

Based on my findings, I have come up with several suggestions to improve the quality of

UNT in upcoming years:

The secondary education system is in the right track as separating the school completion

exam and college entrance exam from each other. Design questions for the new format of UNT,

to the extent that they focus more on critical thinking, generalizing, comparing, problem solving

and analyzing skills.

The lack of resources about universities, majors and tuitions is another issue to think

about. As the students prepare for UNT, they should also prepare for college life. Establishing a

resource center or online platform, for school students, parents and schools about the higher

education institutions.

If the higher UNT performance rate is required, then special programs or seminars for

pedagogues, organized by MESRK on topics such as using various methods in teaching process;

motivation for work and motivating the students for class and for UNT preparation must be

organized. Special programs for parents can also be organized by the school authorities to get

them involved in their childrens education process.

Consider the UNT applicants to be charged for taking the test, as in SAT and many other

well-known tests. And use that money to further develop the test.
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 22

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from http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pdf/irhe/roadmap_kazakhstan.pdf
Unified National Test as A Measurement Tool for College Entrance Exam in Kazakhstan 23

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https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/understanding-scores/interpreting

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