By Ailene N. Diaz

Catarman, Northern Samar (19 October) -- This Sunday, October 22, at 7:00 am will be the day of reckoning for examinees of Career Service Professional and Sub-professional exams in this province.

With 985 confirmed examinees, 835 will take the professional exams while 150 examinees will try their luck in the sub-professional exams.

According to CSC provincial director Michael de la Cruz, the 835 examinees for the professional level will hurdle a 170 item questions in 3 hours while there will be 165 items for sub-professional examinees who have to finish the exams in 2 and a half hours.

When asked why exam results post very low scores in Northern Samar, de la Cruz said that recent exam result data show only 3 to 8 percent passed the CSC examinations regionwide. De la Cruz explained that the reason could be the wide coverage of the exams not to mention that some examinees just take this exam for granted as it is "only" a career service examination and not board exams. De la Cruz further noted that the examinees do not find time to review when in fact CSC exams are basic learnings from basic subjects, including current issues and general information.

"We also cannot pin point or blame the checking process because I personally witness this process, and I find it fair to the examinees. It is computerized, and so one reason for low scores could be light shading of the small boxes in the questionnaires by the examinees," de la Cruz further explained.

"The Civil Service Commission is now ready to administer the exams this coming Sunday. I am advising the examinees to be at the Catarman National High School, the examination area before 7 am. They should bring with them their admission slips and IDs. It is better for the examinees to be at the exam area early so that they would still have the time to locate or look for their assigned examination room," de la Cruz stressed.