Performance remains consistent in CAPE results 2014

Overall performance in CAPE remained consistent with 2013. Ninety percent of entries achieved Grades I-V which are the acceptable grades, the same as in 2013. Performance remained the same on 16 Units, improved on 14 Units and declined on 16 Units.{{more}}

Mathematics and Sciences

There were mixed performances in the Mathematics and Sciences cluster of subjects. Both Units of Applied Mathematics returned identical performance as last year – 89 per cent of entries achieved Grades I-V. In both Units of Applied Mathematics, 27 per cent of entries achieved Grade 1.

For Pure Mathematics Unit 1, performance declined slightly, from 72 per cent in 2013 to 69 per cent this year, while for Pure Mathematics Unit 2, performance improved marginally from 82 per cent in 2013 to 85 per cent this year.

Both Units of Biology saw a dip in performance this year. Eighty-six per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades in Unit 1 this year, compared with 90 per cent in 2013. For Unit 2, 91 per cent of entries achieved Grades I-V, compared with 97 per cent in 2013.

Performance on both Units of Chemistry improved when compared with 2013. There was a slight improvement on Unit 1, with 85 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades, compared with 84 per cent in 2013; while for Unit 2, there was a three per cent improvement in performance this year. Ninety-five percent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 92 per cent in 2013. Both Units of Chemistry recorded a high percentage of Grade Is. Twenty-four per cent of entries achieved Grade I in Unit 1 and 39 per cent of entries achieved similar grades in Unit 2.

There was a three per cent improvement on performance in Physics Unit 2 this year – 95 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 92 per cent in 2013. Performance remained steady on Physics Unit 1 with 93 per cent of entries achieving similar grades in both years.

Humanities

Performance in the humanities cluster of subjects remained mostly steady when compared with performance last year. French Unit 1 saw a slight improvement, with 97 per cent achieving Grades I-V, compared with 96 per cent last year. For French Unit 2 there was a three per cent decline, from 99 per cent in 2013 to 96 per cent this year.

Both Units of Spanish performed almost identical in both years. In Spanish Unit 1, 92 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 93 in 2013. Similarly 92 per cent of entries for Unit 2 achieved acceptable grades this year, compared with 94 per cent in 2013.

Sociology Units 1 and 2 saw slight decline in performance; 85 per cent in Unit 1, compared with 86 per cent last year and 93 per cent in Unit 2 this year, compared with 95 per cent last year.

Law Unit 1, had a one per cent decline, from 85 per cent of acceptable grades last year to 84 per cent this year; while for Law Unit 2, there was a one per cent improvement – 82 per cent this year, compared with 81 per cent last year.

Performance on Literatures in English for both Units in both 2013 and 2014 were identical. In both years 94 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades for Unit 1 and 96 per cent achieved similar grades for Unit 2.

History Unit 1 recorded a slight improvement in performance when compared with 2013. Seventy-nine per cent of entries achieved Grades I-V this year, compared with 76 per cent in 2013. Unit 2 saw a decline of six per cent – 70 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 76 per cent in 2013.

Business

Performance in the business cluster of subjects remained fairly consistent with that of 2013 in most Units. Ninety-five per cent of entries for Accounting Unit 1 achieved acceptable grades, compared with 96 per cent in 2013. For Accounting Unit 2, 79 per cent achieved, compared with 82 per cent last year.

Management of Business Units 1 and 2 saw a one percentage point variation in the performance on both Units in the two years. Eighty-six per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades in Management of Business Unit 1, compared with 87 per cent in 2013; while for Unit 2, 97 per cent achieved acceptable grades this year, one per cent improvement over 2013.

Similarly for Economics Unit 1, there was a one per cent variation with 82 per cent of entries achieving Grades I-V in 2014 and 83 per cent in 2013. For Economics Unit 2, there were 85 per cent of entries getting Grades I-V this year, compared with 88 per cent in 2013.

Technical and Vocational

In the technical and vocational cluster of subjects, performance was consistent, with the exception of Geometrical and Mechanical Engineering Drawing Unit 1, which saw a marked decline in performance this year. Sixty-nine per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 85 per cent last year. Seventy-nine per cent of entries for Geometrical and Mechanical Engineering Drawing Unit 2 achieved acceptable grades, compared with 83 per cent in 2013.

Both Units of Art and Design remained consistent, with 100 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades in both Units in both years.

Food and Nutrition Unit 2 returned similar results, with 99 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades. In Unit 2, 97 per cent achieved acceptable grades in 2014, compared with 99 per cent in 2013.

Seventy-four per cent of entries for Electrical and Electronic Technology Unit 1 achieved accept–-able grades compared with 75 per cent in 2013; and for Unit 2, 79 per cent achieved acceptable grades compared with 83 per cent in 2013. No candidate achieved Grade I in this Unit.

Core Subjects

The two core subjects, Communication Studies, and Caribbean Studies continue to perform consistently with previous years. This year 96 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades in Communication Studies, compared with 97 per cent in 2013, and for Caribbean Studies 93 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades, compared with 94 per cent in 2013.

Growth

The number of candidates entered for CAPE this year was 29,379, compared with 28,228 in 2013, an increase of 1,151 candidates.

Communication Studies continues to lead the subject entries with 15,625 entries this year compared with 14,926 last year. It is followed by Caribbean Studies with 11,941 entries this year, compared with 11,220 in 2013. Sociology Unit 1 with 5,996 entries, Biology Unit 1 with 5,681 and Chemistry Unit 1 with 5,447 entries round out the top five largest Unit entries.

Sixty-two per cent of the candidates were females and 38 per cent males.

Just over 42 per cent of the candidates were in the 18-year age group, while 33 per cent were over 19 years and 22 per cent were in the 17-year age group.