“Mixed performances” in CAPE and A’Level exams, says Dean

Students at the SVG Community College Division of Arts, Sciences and General Studies who wrote their final examinations at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year had “mixed performances”.{{more}}

This is the frank assessment of Rosa Vanloo, Dean of the Division.

“The Sciences did best overall for the faculties,” said Vanloo to SEARCHLIGHT on Thursday, August 26, as she gave an analysis of the students’ performance in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) and Cambridge GCE A’Level subjects, written in May and June of this year.

Vanloo said several subjects were attempted at CAPE for the first time this year, and this might have affected the overall performance.

The new subjects were listed as: Economics, Accounting, Busines Studies, Environmental Science and Information Technology (IT). The results in these subjects were generally fair, with the exception of IT, which was less than fair, Vanloo disclosed.

She contended that the Mathematics results were encouraging. The students scored 22 grade 1s in Unit One.

Vanloo said Communication Studies students scored outstanding results, with 365 out of 370 passing, with 47 grade 1s.

“Overall the results for CAPE were fair. The overall percentage pass went down slightly, mainly because I think we had so many more students entering the exams, and those new subjects that I told you about, it was basically an experiment,” said Vanloo. She disclosed that the Division will not be introducing any new CAPE subjects for the 2010-11 academic year.

There were outstanding performances in some of the Cambridge GCE Advanced Level subjects also.

Vanloo said there were 100 per cent passes for Biology and Art and Design. There were three grade As among the Biology passes.

For Chemistry, there was an 82 per cent pass rate, while Physics had a 93 per cent pass rate.

“Econ and Business Studies, their results were probably not as good as they could have been,” said Vanloo.

Accounting had an 88.5 per cent pass rate, and Psychology, 90.9 per cent.

Vanloo told SEARCHLIGHT the Division offers 21 subjects.

“We’re moving away from Cambridge gradually, mainly because of the cost, and a lot of students find that CAPE is more student friendly,” said Vanloo.

She added that CAPE is accredited, and students are accepted at universities in North America and Europe.

Vanloo also gave some details about the introduction of Associate Degree programmes at the Division from September this year. The initiative will start with Business, Law, Computing and I.T.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education in a press release said generally students in the CAPE have shown some improvement in a number of subject areas.

The Ministry said that there were 100 per cent passes in Caribbean Studies, French Unit Two, Spanish Unit Two and English Literature Unit Two.

The Ministry further stated that this year’s results show that high pass rates have been maintained or increased in the majority of subjects written.

According to the Ministry, the most significant increase was in Spanish Unit One, where the pass rate increased from 69 per cent last year to 94 per cent this year.

The Ministry added that the number of subject examinations taken this year rose by 56 per cent, from 966 to 1,556.

There was an overall pass rate of 84 per cent this year, a slight decrease over last year’s 89 per cent.