On November 2–3 of this year, the Agency for Assessment of Knowledge and Competences conducted an examination in the subject of Mother Tongue and Literature within the framework of the national testing system to evaluate the level of knowledge in general education subjects.

The national certification examinations are regulated by the “Procedure for Assessing Knowledge in General Education Subjects and Issuing Certificates” approved by Resolution No. 646 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, dated October 12, 2020, titled “On the Introduction of the National Testing System for Evaluating Knowledge in General Education Subjects.” According to this procedure, applicants who obtain a state-issued certificate confirming their knowledge level in a specific subject are granted either the maximum score or a proportional score in entrance exams for undergraduate programs in higher education institutions, based on their certificate level.

The test tasks designed by the Agency for the Assessment of Knowledge and Competences to determine knowledge levels and issue state-standard certificates are developed in compliance with the state education standards and curricula implemented in the general secondary education system. Specifically, the test tasks in the Mother Tongue were aimed at assessing linguistic and communicative competencies, while those in Literature focused on analyzing literary works and evaluating literary and linguistic competencies.  

In recent days, certain test tasks and essay topics that have sparked discussions on social media were reviewed by the Agency. The analysis revealed that these situations arose due to various factors.  

As is known, essay writing is used as an assessment tool for evaluating writing literacy. The development of essay-writing skills and competencies has been emphasized in educational programs in recent years. Therefore, the requirement to write essays based on scenarios aligned with topics outlined in educational curricula (e.g., “Gender Equality,” “Which Path to Take After Graduation?”, “Higher Education or Starting a Job?”) was introduced in the initial stages of examinations in the subject of Mother Tongue and Literature under the national testing system.  

It is encouraging to observe that, in recent years, growing attention to improving writing literacy among applicants has led to notable progress in their essay-writing skills. Consequently, the essay topics selected for examinations are often socially significant, widely discussed on social media, noteworthy, historically relevant, and engaging. These include issues in the education sector, the activities of private higher education institutions, and current topics like the achievements of our compatriots in the "Paris 2024" Summer Olympics, reflecting increased attention to sports and education.  

The choice of socially relevant topics for essays serves multiple purposes. An unfamiliar topic may not effectively assess the applicant's language proficiency. Essay writing evaluates the applicant's writing literacy, text creation, logical and semantic features of the text, correct use of language elements, adherence to spelling and punctuation rules, and efficient utilization of vocabulary. It does not test knowledge of sociology, history, or other subjects but focuses on linguistic skills, competencies, and abilities.

Furthermore, it has been observed that certain open and closed test tasks circulating on social media have sparked various discussions. During the analysis, it was found that while some of these test questions correspond to tasks used in previous examinations conducted by the Agency for Assessment of Knowledge and Competences, the majority of them are not related to the Agency's test database.  

The alignment of certain test tasks being discussed with the test tasks used in the November 2–3 examinations is directly tied to the scientific and theoretical analysis requirements of the "Rash model". According to this model, ensuring the proportional difficulty levels of test variants used in exams throughout an academic year is a key factor. Moreover, the difficulty level of a test variant is determined based on the correct answers provided by examinees. As the number of correct answers to a specific question increases, the score assigned to that test variant decreases based on the Rash model.  

The repetition of certain test tasks from previous exams, which were made public after past tests, in the test variants of the November 2–3, 2024 examinations can be explained as a scientific-theoretical requirement of this analysis.  

The scientific and statistical analysis of the results of the national certification examination in the subject of the Mother Tongue (Uzbek) and Literature can be accessed on the official website of the Agency for Assessment of Knowledge and Competences at "uzbmb.uz".