Performance in both English A (Language) and English B (Literature) for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) improved significantly in the May/June 2010 sitting.

Sixty-six per cent of the subject entries submitted for English A achieved Grades I to III in 2010 compared with 56 per cent in 2009, 45 per cent in 2008 and 49 per cent in 2007. Performance at the Grade I level also improved with 18 per cent of entries gaining Grade I compared with 12 per cent in 2009. The examining committee attributed this year’s performance to the ability of candidates to better negotiate the Summary, Narrative and Argumentative Writing sections on the English A paper.

For English B, 76 per cent of the entries achieved Grades I to III this year, compared with 58 per cent in 2009 and 48 per cent in 2008. The percentage of candidates who achieved Grade I increased from 14 per cent in 2009 to 32 per cent this year. Two factors accounted for the significant improvement. The first is that performance on Profile 1-Drama, saw improvement. The second factor is that teachers benefited from the training workshops conducted on the English B syllabus throughout the region by CXC. The examining committee is of the view that this year’s improved results are direct dividends of the training.

The performance in English underlines a general improvement in performance this year. Overall, 69 per cent of subject entries achieved Grades I to III, the acceptable grades at CSEC. This compared with 66 per cent of acceptable grades in 2009 and 62 per cent in 2008.Of the 34 CSEC subjects offered, performance improved in 14 subjects, declined in 14 subjects and remained the same in six subjects.

Business Studies

In the Business Studies subjects, there were mixed results. Principles of Accounts saw improved performance; Principles of Business and Electronic Document Preparation and Management remained steady, while performance in Economics and Office Administration declined.

Sixty-four percent of entries for Principles of Accounts achieved acceptable grades, compared with 61 per cent in 2009. Notwithstanding the improvement, the examining   committee cites Company Accounts as one of the weak areas on this examination.

For Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM), 90 per cent of the entries achieved Grades I to III, the same as in 2009. The examining committee has strongly recommended that teaching for this subject should not be confined to the classroom. “Students should get exposure to the real-life work environment through field trips and site visits,” the Measurement Officer reported to the Final Awards Committee.

Seventy-nine per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades in Principles of Business, while in 2009, 80 per cent achieved similar grades.

Performance in Office Administration declined by three per cent when compared with that of 2009. This year, 78 per cent of entries achieved Grades I to III, while in 2009, 81 per cent achieved these grades.

Economics saw a marginal decline in performance this year. Sixty-two per cent of entries achieved Grades I to III, down from 64 per cent in 2009. “Candidates are still challenged by quantitative and analytical questions,” the examining committee noted. It added that there is also a lack of understanding of some key economic concepts which prevents candidates from gaining maximum marks on certain questions.

Caribbean History had a seven per cent increase in performance this year, with 65 per cent of entries achieving Grades I to III, compared with 58 per cent last year. Geography saw improvements similar to Caribbean History, with 66 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades this year, compared with 59 per cent in 2009.

The examining committee for Geography noted that candidates continue to exhibit poor Map Reading skills and also lack understanding of basic geographical concepts. The committee has recommended that Geography be introduced at the lower secondary school to equip students with a good foundation for the subject.

 Techvoc

Of the Technical and Vocational Education subjects, Technical Drawing, Food and Nutrition and Clothing and Textiles all saw improved performance this year. Eighty-three per cent of entries for Clothing and Textiles achieved Grades I to III compared with 80 per cent last year.

Food and Nutrition recorded a five per cent improvement this year. Ninety-two per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 87 per cent last year. For Technical Drawing, the margin of improvement was two per cent, with 77 per cent of entries achieving Grades I to III, compared with 75 per cent of entries achieving similar grades in 2009.

Expressive Arts

In the Expressive Arts cluster of subjects, Physical Education and Sport and Music showed improved performance; Theatre Arts remained the same and performance declined in Visual Arts.

Physical Education and Sport was the best performing subject overall with 97 per cent of entries achieving Grades I to III this year, which was a slight increase over 2009 when 96 per cent of entries achieved those grades.  

Music had one of the most significant improvements in performance of all subjects this year. Last year, 54 per cent of entries achieved Grades I to III, while this year it increased to 72 per cent.

Sciences

Performance declined on most of the sciences including two of the three natural sciences. Agricultural Science (Single Award) was the only science which saw improvement in performance this year. Ninety-one of the entries for Agricultural Science (SA) achieved Grades I to III this year compared with 87 per cent in 2009. Performance on Agricultural Science (Double Award) declined slightly, from 90 per cent of acceptable grades in 2009 to 88 per cent this year.

Biology has remained steady over the last two years, with 75 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades in both 2009 and 2010. Though performance in Chemistry and Physics remained high, they both experienced declining performance this year when compared with last year.  For Physics, the percentage of entries achieving acceptable grades dipped from 77 last year to 75 this year; however, there was an increase in the percentage of candidates achieving Grade I. Twenty-one per cent of candidates achieved Grade I this year compared with 16 per cent in 2009.

In Chemistry, the percentage of acceptable grades fell from 78 last year to 69 this year. Once again, Organic Chemistry was cited as one of the major weaknesses of candidates. The Council is working in conjunction with the Chemistry Department at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, to devise a solution for this perennial problem. Another area of concern is the Chemistry of Cooking.

Information Technology

The new single Information Technology syllabus was tested for the first time in the 2010 May/June examination. Prior to this year, there were two Information Technology syllabuses and two examinations, one at Technical Proficiency and one at General Proficiency.  Beginning this year, there was one examination at the General Proficiency level and the single syllabus was introduced to schools in September 2008. Some 25, 716 candidates registered for Information Technology this year.

Overall performance on the new examination was encouraging with 83 per cent of the entries achieving acceptable grades. The reoccurring challenges of Programming and Database Management were once again cited as weakness of candidates. In addition, the examining   committee has recommended that teachers pay more attention to the areas of Problem Solving, Programming, Database Management and Binary Arithmetic.

Growth in Entries

Candidate entries for Mathematics and English A both passed the 100, 000 mark this year. English A was the largest subject with 100, 461 entries this year compared with 94, 327 entries in 2009. Mathematics followed closely with 100, 084 entries this year compared with 91, 351 entries in 2009.

Both subjects were always the two largest at CSEC; however, one factor which accounted for the even stronger growth this year was the discontinuation of the Basic Proficiency examination in all subjects. Last year was the final year Basic Proficiency was offered in Mathematics and 2008 was the last time Basic Proficiency was offered in English A.

Social Studies broke through the 50,000 entries barrier this year, with 52, 968 entries compared with 48, 569 in 2009. Human and Social Biology saw significant growth in numbers as well, crossing the 30, 000 mark this year. It had 31, 546 entries this year compared with 26, 515 in 2009.

Overall, the number of candidates taking the May/June 2010 CSEC examination increased by almost 10, 000. This year 153, 447 candidates registered for the examination, compared with 143, 489 candidates in 2009.

For further information, please contact Cleveland Sam, Assistant Registrar-Public Information at telephone number (246) 227 1892 or via e-mail at CSam@cxc.org.