Slight improvement in CSEC 2015 performance

Sixty-eight per cent of the subject entries submitted for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) May/June 2015 examinations achieved Grades I-III, the acceptable grades at this level.

A release from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) says this compares favourably with performance in 2014, when 66 per cent of entries achieved similar grades and continued the upward trend started in 2012 and 2013,{{more}} when 62 per cent and 65 per cent achieved Grades I-III respectively.

The number of candidates writing the CSEC examinations and the number of subject entries submitted declined this year when compared with the last two years. Subject entries fell to 578, 035, down from 603, 383 in 2014 and 616, 447 entries in 2013. Candidate entries also fell, to 132, 824 entries in 2015 from 142, 884 in 2014 and 149, 311 entries in 2013.

Mathematics had the largest subject entry with 92,968 entries submitted this year. English A was second with 89,486 entries, Social Studies with 46,904, followed by Principles of Business with 33,160 and Human and Social Biology, with 29,202 entries, rounding off the top five largest subjects.

Thirty per cent of entries were 17 years old; 28.5 per cent were older than 19 years, 20 per cent were 16 years old and 15 per cent were 18 years old.

Forty-one per cent of the candidates who registered for the 2015 examination were male and 59 per cent female.