Careers, Admission and Funding Questions and Answers Grade 12

A gap year gives you time to discover your real interests, strengths and weaknesses, for example through work or volunteering, so that the career you finally choose suits you and is more likely to be fulfilling.

A niche in the job market is a specialised area of work that needs a unique combination of skills and knowledge, where few workers have the required expertise, so people with those skills can stand out.

Graduates can register on online job-matching platforms that compare their qualifications, skills and experience with available vacancies, so they are linked quickly to jobs that suit them.

Because Gen Z grew up with technology, they are comfortable using digital tools and resources, so they can quickly find information and technological solutions when problems come up at work.

Family members may pressure you to choose a career that they see as stable or respected, such as medicine or law, even if it does not match your own interests and abilities.

Two ways in which understanding the trends in the job market could help you to make a better career choice are:

1. Knowing the trends shows you which skills are in high demand, so you can choose a qualification and develop skills that match what employers need.
2. It helps you see how technology is changing industries, so you can avoid careers likely to be replaced by automation and choose roles with a future.

A learner caught cheating may have their results cancelled or withheld, so they do not receive the NSC certificate that is needed to apply to a university or college.

Vocation (also accepted: calling).

A vocation is a career you feel strongly drawn to because it matches your interests, abilities and values.

Weighing up the pros and cons helps you look at your decision objectively, so that you choose based on facts and not only on your gut feeling or emotions.

B: assess whether you will develop your full potential.

A good career choice matches your interests, abilities and values so that you can grow and reach your full potential over many years. Salary, location and working hours (A, C and D) matter, but they are secondary to whether the career fits who you are.

C: assess whether potential students qualify for regular entry or extended programmes in a specific course.

The NBT tests academic literacy, quantitative literacy and mathematics. Universities use the results with your NSC marks to decide whether you can enter a course directly or need an extended (foundation) programme with extra support. It does not decide funding (B) or move you to any other course (D).

Two reasons why many students commit to higher education without having the required funds are:

1. They assume that bursaries or student loans will automatically be available.
2. They did not get proper guidance at school on how to access funding for higher education.

Three consequences of students accumulating tuition debt during their period of study are:

1. The institution may withhold their results until the debt is paid.
2. They may drop out before completing their qualification.
3. Interest makes the debt grow, so it becomes very hard to repay.

Two reasons why it is important for universities to conduct impact studies before admitting students for a new academic year are:

1. Impact studies help a university to work out how many students it can accommodate with its available resources, so it does not admit more students than it can teach properly.
2. The findings can be published in the prospectus, which tells applicants how many places are available and prevents unrealistic expectations.

D: learn about all of your options after completing school.

Life Orientation prepares you for life after school by teaching you about the full range of study, work and career options, as well as life skills. The other options name only one possible outcome.

They may have to rewrite subjects to improve their APS, which delays their studies and forces them to reapply for the next academic year.

Two alternative opportunities that unsuccessful university applicants could consider to still follow their planned careers are:

1. They could apply to a TVET college or private college, which offers other routes into their field that may suit their abilities better.
2. They could do a learnership or apprenticeship, which combines training and work experience and can lead to a formal qualification in their chosen field.

Two possible negative implications that free education has for prospective students are:

1. More students gain access to higher education, so lecture halls become overcrowded, which makes teaching and learning harder and lowers the quality of education.
2. Students must keep up good results to keep their free funding, which places extra pressure on them and can harm their emotional well-being.

Three skills that some Grade 12 school leavers may lack when entering the job market are:

1. Some school leavers may lack critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
2. They may lack effective verbal and written communication skills.
3. They may lack digital and computer skills.

Three ways in which research on work and study opportunities could assist you to make informed decisions about a post-school destination are:

1. Research shows you work and study opportunities you did not know about, which gives you a wider range of options to choose from.
2. It tells you about the costs and the bursaries, loans and other financial aid available, so you can plan how to fund your studies and follow through with your plans.
3. It gives you clear information on entry requirements and the skills needed, so you can prepare properly before you apply.

B: training in skills development.

SETAs were set up under the Skills Development Act to develop the skills needed in each economic sector, for example through learnerships and skills programmes.

D: develop through further studies and find employment.

The NSC is the entry requirement for higher education and most jobs, so it opens the way to further study and employment.

Three benefits of obtaining the National Senior Certificate are:

1. You can apply for further studies at a university or college.
2. It makes you more employable.
3. It gives you a sense of achievement and boosts your self-esteem.

Admission point score (APS).

Universities add up points for your NSC subject results to decide whether you qualify for a course.

Three interpretations from the data in the graph about the dropout rate of first-year students are:

1. The dropout rate of first-year students increased every year between 2015 and 2018, showing an upward trend.
2. The dropout rate was lowest in 2015 (11%) and highest in 2018 (31%).
3. Overall the dropout rate rose by about 20 percentage points over the four years.

Note: simply listing the percentage for each year earns no marks.

Job shadowing.

Job shadowing lets you follow a worker for a day or a few days to see what the career involves before you choose it.

Three ways in which research on work and study opportunities could assist you to make informed decisions about post-school destinations are:

1. Research shows you work and study opportunities you did not know about, which gives you a wider range of options to choose from within and across career fields.
2. It tells you about the admission requirements, costs and financial aid options such as bursaries and NSFAS, so you can plan properly and follow through with your post-school plans.
3. It helps you know what to expect in the next phase of your life, so you are better prepared to cope with the change from school to work or study.

Two reasons why it is important to obtain your National Senior Certificate are:

1. It allows you to study further at a university or college, and the better your results, the more courses you can choose from.
2. It is a basic requirement for many jobs and shows employers that you have certain skills and knowledge.

Learners may have to rewrite some subjects to improve their Admission Point Score (APS), which delays their studies because they will have to reapply for the next academic year.