New ‘Clearing House’ entrance exam system sparks debate

The new system is reportedly similar to the old entrance exam system except students will know their scores before they submit applications to universities.

Supporters of the new system said it would be beneficial because students would have more time after graduating secondary school to prepare for entrance exams. 

Under the new system, students will be tested on nine basic subjects as well as take the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and Professional and Academic Aptitude Test (PAT), so supporters said students would no longer have to waste time and money taking many admission tests administered by universities. 

Other supportive comments said the new system would help to offer more equal undergraduate education opportunities for lower-income, rural students relative to their wealthier, urban peers. 

However, people who doubted the merits of the new system said they were worried about what it would entail. One critic said the Clearing House system would only give students one chance to take GAT and PAT tests, putting them under more pressure because they would not be able to retest for better scores if their first attempts yielded disappointing results. 

“Changing the admission system in the next two years is far too fast. The Education Ministry should give this plan at least three years before implementation, so students can prepare themselves for it,” a commentator on the Dek-D.com web board said. 

“This Clearing House system will only solve the problem of too many exams. But the problem of students focusing more on tutorial schools rather than their normal classrooms will remain unsolved,” said Pavich Thongroj, former vice president of the Council of University Presidents of Thailand. 

The new system should also take into consideration students’ grade point average to make students focus more on lessons in the classroom, he said, adding that it would take at least two years to evaluate the system’s effectiveness.