Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Record number of students takes CSEC examinations
08-29-2006

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: A total of 522 492 candidates from across the region took the Caribbean Examinations Council examinations for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) this year.

The largest entries were in English A (88 412) and Mathematics (86 479). Other subjects with large entries were Social Studies (44 143), Principles of Business (39 096), Principles of Accounts (30 200) and Information Technology - Technical (22 441).

Three new subjects also had relatively large entries. Human and Social Biology increased to 17 027 from 8 243 last year; Electronic Document Preparation and Management increased from 1 991 to 4 182 this year and Physical Education and Sports jumped from 552 to 1163 this year.

The performance of candidates also improved in 17 subjects. Over 90 percent of candidates achieved acceptable Grades (I-III) in two subjects - Electronic Document Preparation and Management and Physical Education and Sport.

Five subjects showed double-digit percentage increases in performance at Grades I-III from last year. Performance in Agricultural Science (Single Award) - Crops and Soils improved from 60 percent last year to 76 percent; Technical Drawing increased from 56 percent to 72 percent; Human and Social Biology from 39 percent to 51 percent; Visual Arts from 63 percent to 76; and Type Writing from 58 to 70 percent this year.

Performance in the Sciences with the exception of Physics and Integrated Science improved. In Biology, 72 percent of candidates achieved Grades I to III compared with 65 percent in 2005; Chemistry increased from 58 percent to 62 percent and all three Agricultural Science Options also had improved performance. Agricultural Science (Double Award) improved from 82 to 85 percent; Agricultural Science (Single Award) - Crops and Soils improved from 60 percent last year to 76 percent this year and Agricultural Science (Single Award) - Animal Science increased from 72 percent in 2005 to 84 percent this year.

Both foreign languages registered improved performance over last year. Seventy-three percent of the candidates who took Spanish achieved Grades I to III, compared with 65 percent last year, while for French the percentage increased from 73 in 2005 to 78 this year.

Performance in English A and Mathematics remained approximately the same with 51 percent and 35 percent achieving Grades I to III respectively.

Thirty-three subjects were examined in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) this year; 20 at General Proficiency only, nine at Basic and General Proficiencies, three at Technical Proficiency only, and one subject at General and Technical Proficiencies.