NATIONAL EXAMINATION

The National Examination (UN/UNAS) is a final test for primary and secondary
education in Indonesia to receive graduation certificate. The national examination is
done by students in the last grade in their school. The national exam has already been
used since a long time ago and is often changed with the change of authorities. In the
past, the national examination was called Ujian Penghabisan, Ujian Negara, Ujian Akhir,
EBTANAS, etc. The name, system and standard of national exams always change
every year. Principally, the government holds the national exam to control and improve
the quality of education. Students in the last grade go through the test to measure how
much knowledge they have got from their study. The results of the national exam can be
a tool to find out the quality of education in all areas in Indonesia. The results can also
be a feedback for the government to make improvements. Even though the government
believes that the national examination is the best way to improve the quality of
education in Indonesia, I personally believe that there are three reasons why the
National Examination should be stopped.
The first reason why the National Examination should be stopped is because it
cannot completely measure the competence of the students. The National Examination
is not able to map the achievement of education quality because students are tested for
only three to five days. It is not objective. At school, students learn various subjects, but
the national exam only tests several subjects, namely Indonesian Language, English,
Math and Science. Furthermore, there are three aspects in education: Cognitive,
Affective and Psychomotor. The fact is national exam only evaluates the cognitive

aspect. That evaluation can only be done by teachers at school who know and meet
students everyday. And then, using multiple choice system as an instrument in national
exam can give a chance for student to guess the answers. Multiple choice makes
national exam more ineffective. Education is not just about result, it is also about the
process and the way to solve a problem. Furthermore, the problems of differences in
quality of teaching and also the quality of education in every school havent been
resolved yet. Indonesia has many schools in every province. Each area has its own
problems of education. The problems are very various, from the human resource
problem to problems of facilities. The facilities in urban schools will be different from
schools in isolated areas. And this is certainly not fair for schools that have lower quality
to take the same standard of UN.
The second reason is because UN applies an unreasonably high standard for
passing scores that creates pressures for students. Every year, the standard of national
exam goes up. It creates stress and frustration among students. The pressure from
national exam can affect students performance in the exam. Students can lose their
concentration. Many of them fail in the exams because they are stressed out. The
National Examination is a major issue that is always anticipated by students. If students
fail this exam, they will lose their ambition to go to the higher education. They will be
sad and they will make their parents disappointed. They dont have a second chance
although they can follow A, B,C education packages, but it doesnt have the same
quality as the national examination. In fact, in many cases, students kill themselves
because theyre not strong enough to face the pressure or they do not pass the national
exam.

The third reason is because the moral standard in Indonesia is considerably still
low. It is a public secret that there are so many inappropriate conducts during the
national exam. Because of the schools competition, schools will do anything to make
their students pass the exam with an amazing score, even through cheating. Many
teachers give the answers to the students. They do it to ensure their school name wont
go down. Many students pass the exam without their own abilities. There are so many
ways to pass the test. Students cheat to others, they use mobile phone to cheat, buy
the keys, etc. On the contrary, a lot of smart students do not pass the exam even
though they have studied really hard. Another inappropriate conduct during the national
examination is corruption. There are many corruptions in many aspects. As we know,
national examination needs so much cost and the cost increases every year without any
improvement. There is something wrong with UN, but the education institution is not
transparent about this situation.
The National Examination cannot completely measure students competence, it
applies a high standard for the passing scores, and it still faces the low moral standard
of Indonesia. There are so many cheating acts that happen there, from the stage holder
to the schools. In conclusion, the National Examination should be stopped because it is
not effective and only brings bad impacts to students. The government should evaluate
and improve the examination system to improve the quality of education in Indonesia.