National Career Assessment Examination: A Look Into Our Future?

by Elisha Somera

The academic year 2018-2019 marked the start of DepEd (Department of Education) administering the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) to all Grade 9 students in both private and public schools.

The NCAE is an aptitude test that is mandatorily taken nationwide. It was developed to precisely assess the skills, abilities and readiness of Grade 9 students towards specific domains along with aiding the process of career awareness and guidance. The test itself consists of multiple variations of test types that aim to properly evaluate a student’s knowledge and awareness towards specific wants and passions in terms of academic tracks and occupational interests.

About 1.8M Students Nationwide Took the NCAE | Photo: DepEd Philippines

It specifically aims to provide precise measures of a student in terms of major domains that will assist the student’s future. These domains were tested through different parts of the test, such as the General Scholastic Aptitude, which considered Scientific Ability, Reading Comprehension, Verbal Ability, Mathematical Ability, and Logical Reasoning Ability. The Aptitude for academic tracks targets the student’s knowledge and preference in terms of the different academic strands such as Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), and Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM). The Occupational interest inventory of students in secondary schools (OIISSS) aims to provide an accurate assessment of the examinee’s preference in careers.

It will usually take 3 to 4 months before DepEd releases the results of the examination. The results come in with the achieved grade results for the different aptitudes along with charts for the student’s preference in terms of occupation and academic strand.

It may not be an entirely accurate say into what the future holds for the students, but it is certainly a good start!