Decline in regional pass rate for CSEC mathematics, English language Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Several subjects sat by students in this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) recorded declines in their overall pass rates.

CSEC mathematics and English language are among them.

This was outlined by Director of Operations at the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), Dr Nicole Manning, at a press conference in St Lucia on Monday, to release the results of the 2022 CXC exams.

Manning explained that this year’s exams faced challenges, including the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a deferral of the exams by three weeks to facilitate student preparations.

Starting with the results for CAPE, she advised that in Caribbean Studies, there was a reduction in the performance of students who achieved grades one and two.

However, the passes for candidates who attained grade three were stable, while there was increase in the number of students attaining grades four and five when compared with the 2021 sitting.

In Communication Studies, 92 per cent of the Caribbean candidates passed those exams. This, according to Manning, represents a reduction from last year’s pass rate.

She said there was also a reduction in the number of students attaining grades one and two in the subject, but stable in grade three and increases in the number of people attaining grades four and five.

“In Information Technology Unit One, we saw a reduction for both grades one and two, an increase for grades three onwards to five, and an overall reduction for Unit One,” Manning outlined.

However, for Unit Two in that subject area, there was a 96 per cent increase in the number of students passing the exam, with the number of candidates achieving grades one and two increasing when compared to last year’s preliminary data.

For Food and Nutrition Unit One, there was no candidate across the Caribbean who achieved a grade one pass, representing a reduction.

In contrast to Unit Two, there is a four per cent increase in the number of students passing with grades one. Overall, the pass rate for that unit has risen by 97 per cent, Manning stated.

CAPE Law was one of the subjects where student performances remained consistent, with Unit One having an “overall all-time high” pass rate of 93 per cent, Manning reported.

In CSEC, there was a regional reduction in passes for English A.

While not providing the regional pass rate for the subject, Manning said there was stability relative to the 19 per cent of students who sat the exams achieving grades one.

At the same time, the number of Caribbean students receiving grades two and three declined.

The performance of regional students in Mathematics declined to 37 per cent, Manning informed.

“For Mathematics, we saw a reduction for grades one and two, but stability at grade three,” she advised.

For English B (Literature), there was an increase in students attaining passes of grades one and two, and a reduction of passes with grade three.

But there was an overall increase in passes from 63 per cent last year to 72 per cent in 2022.

The pass rate for Biology for the 2022 CSEC exams is 78 per cent, while the pass rate for Chemistry declined to 59 per cent.

“While we saw an increase in grades three (in Chemistry), we saw a reduction at grades one and two,” Manning disclosed.

“Now, Chemistry, of course, like Biology… is a very practical and hands-on subject. So, we are looking as we go back to face-to-face for some improvements in this area, because those components where we saw the reduction, I believe would have been major alignment with the fact that candidates would have been out,” she explained.

Physics declined to 64 per cent this year, in comparison to the 67 per cent pass rate recorded last year.

There was a 69 per cent increase in the pass rate for Principles of Accounts, while Principles of Business also recorded an increase of 80 per cent.

Social Studies also had a decrease in both overall performance rate and the number of students attaining grades one, two and three when compared to previous years.

Students were expected to receive their results at approximately 6pm Monday.

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