Students sitting for the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) on Wednesday expressed their "relief" after completing the mathematics exam, the first of the 2020 session.

The national exam is being held according to health protocols and educational guidelines taken by the Education Ministry in cooperation with the Health Ministry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Students expressed satisfaction with the level of difficulty of the exam and its questions, mainly in the mathematics subjects for academic stream students, stressing that the questions "came from the textbook”.

They also said that the questions were distributed as announced by the ministry, which had said that 65 per cent of the marks would be allocated from the material covered in the first semester, 20 per cent from that covered between the beginning of the second semester up until the closing of schools and 15 per cent from the distance education period. 

The students said that the allocated time for the exam was "enough” to answer the questions and revise them, especially after the ministry added 10 extra minutes.

For his part, Education Minister Tayseer Nuaimi said that the exam "went according to plans" as students showed "full commitment" to exam regulations and health measures.

During a tour of a Tawjihi hall at the Fatima Al Zahra School for Girls in Amman, Nuaimi said that the second secondary stage is "important for students”, stressing that students must ensure quality studying practices over studying for long hours.

The minister also called on students to deal with the exams "in a relaxed and unconcerned manner", referring to the role of parents in encouraging their children.

A total of 132,062 students sat for the exam on its first day, out of 178,217 students registered for the Tawjihi 2020 session, Petra adde