2012 KCSE TIP 2 (REPORT WRITING)

1. You are the secretary of four-member committee investigating the cause of dismal performance by your school at KCSE Exam results just released. You committee is mandated to also find how to improve the performance in future. Write a report highlighting the causes, findings and recommendations to your Principal. Question is courtesy of Buramu District Mock 2012. The Introduction answers the questions who the report is being written for, who make up the committee making the investigations. Further, it lists all the members of the committee and specifies their designations as well as when the report is due. It is also in the introduction that you will specify the objectives of the committee. The introduction will be followed by the body which will have a subtitle as closely related to the task as possible. The findings will be listed in this section as sub – titles. You will need to mention at least two findings. Below each sub – title of the findings you will write a paragraph clearly spelling out what you found out. This section will then be followed by the conclusion which will summarise your findings (tell them what you have told them). The conclusion will then be followed by the recommendations. These will derive directly from the findings. If you had two findings, we will expect two recommendations. To complete your report, you will have the name of the institution on the right hand side and below it the date of submission. On the left hand side you will have your designation, in this case secretary, and your name. Make sure that the name you have here corresponds to the secretary’s name you listed in the introduction. That’s it. Below find a sample answer to the above question. Take note that I have taken the liberty to put all the titles and sub-titles in upper case. This is because the blog does not allow for formatting. Read each of those sub-headings as a separate paragraph. If you are able to download it, then reformat them into paragraphs and remove the capitalization of the sub-headings. It is only the title that appears fully in upper case and should be underlined. The rest can be in bold but do not underline them.  REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF DISMAL PERFORMANCE AT ALWALA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL IN THE 2011 KCSE INTRODUCTION The Principal of Alwala Mixed Secondary School asked the academic committee to investigate the cause of the school’s dismal performance in the 2011 KCSE. Further, the committee was to give recommendations on how to improve the school’s performance in future national exams. The four member committee was made up of: 1) Mr. Jack Oulo, Deputy Principal – Chairman 2) Mr. David Acholla, Director of Studies – Member 3) Ms. Tabitha Odhiambo, HOD Career Guidance – Member 4) Ms. Joyce Rachuonyo, Examinations Officer - Secretary The committee was constituted on 1st March 2011 and the report was due on 14th March 2012 CAUSES OF DISMAL PERFORMANCE IN KCSE 2011 AT ALWALA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL a) Syllabus not covered in some subjects The students were ill prepared for the exams. The syllabus was not completed in three subjects, namely English, Maths and Kiswahili. Students therefore sat the exam without sufficient content. b) Little exposure to quality examinations The students sat only one exam that tested all the papers examined at KCSE. This was the Kisumu West District Mock. Many students therefore did not know what topics are examined in which paper. Further, the students sis not understand the rubrics of the papers they sat resulting in time wastage while answering more questions than the papers demanded. CONCLUSION In view of the foregoing, it was impossible to expect a better result from the students. The students did the best they could under the circumstances they found themselves in because the core subjects were taught poorly yet they counted in the students grading. RECOMMENDATIONS The committee recommended that: a) Teachers should complete the syllabus before the district mock. b) The form fours should sit an examination similar to KCSE in first term. Besides the District Mock the students should sit a pre- mock in second term. Finally they should sit for a post – mock exam in third term. Alwala Mixed Secondary School 14/3/2012 Ms. Joyce Rachuonyo Secretary