IGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: INTERNAL EXAM AS PREPARATION STAGE TO HSE EXTERNAL EXAM

Abstract

Abstract. This article reports on the correlation between the internal (the so-called achievement) and the
external (independent) exams at one of the leading educational institutions in the Russian Federation, the Higher School of Economics. The study addresses the question whether our HSE internal English language exam is actually needed in order to assist the HSE students succeed in their external English language assessment. According to the definition, external examination is an exam arranged by people outside a student’s own school, college, or university (electronic source,Cambridge dictionary, URL:www.dictionary.cambridge.org) and internal examination is the one existing or
happening inside a school, college, or university (Cambridge dictionary, URL:www.dictionary.cambridge.org). Thus, the main focus here is on the location, not on the exam itself. Obviously, other things are important as well: the assessment body, which certainly has to be independent and reliable enough, the procedural regulations, which should not allow any kind of cheating, and the test materials themselves, which must be authentic and provide the opportunity of getting valid results. This article describes how all the components mentioned above are realized in the HSE and concludes whether the internal exam accomplishes its purpose.