Students who have completed grade 10 will sit today and tomorrow for the locally prepared Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination, which includes Dhivehi and Islam tests. Department of Public Examination's (DPE) director general Ahmed Shakeeb said the exams would be conducted in 196 schools and 54 private sectors. The number of students sitting for the exams is lower this year compared to the 8,461 students in 2012. But this is the first year that the O-Level exams are conducted in all the schools in capital Male. Iskandhar School, which is doing the exams for the first time, said its students were well prepared despite being afraid to sit for such a major exam for the first time. "But we expect it to get better in the future," the school's deputy principal Ahmed Mausoom said. The O-Level exams will conclude on October 19.