CaribbeanNewsNow
Barbados — Performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) January 2013 sitting has improved over that January of 2012. This year 49 percent of the entries achieved Grades I – III, the acceptable grades at CSEC, compared with 45 percent last year.
Of the 13 subjects offered at the January sitting, performance improved on nine, declined on three and remained the same on one subject.
English Literature or English B was the subject with the most improved performance when compared to 2012. There was a 30 percent improvement in performance this year with 62 percent of the entries achieving acceptable grades, compared with 32 percent in 2012. There was improved performance on all three profiles this year: drama, poetry and prose fiction. The decline in performance in 2012 was due mainly candidates using the incorrect texts to prepare for the examination.
Improved performance was also seen on biology, chemistry, information technology, mathematics, physics, principles of business, social studies and human and social biology. Performance on English A remained the same as in 2012 with 43 percent of candidates achieving acceptable grades.
Although office administration was the subject with the highest percentage of candidates achieving acceptable grades – 85 percent — this represents a slight decline when compared with performance in 2012, when 88 percent achieved similar grades. Principles of accounts also witnessed a decline in performance with 52 percent of candidates achieving acceptable grades compared with 62 percent in 2012. There was also a slight decline in performance in Spanish this January: 66 percent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 69 percent last year.
Absenteeism
The Final Awards Committee noted that there was a significant rate of absenteeism for a number of subjects and expressed its concern about the trend. The Committee called on Ministries of Education to monitor the issue and to put measures in place to reduce it. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) which advises the Final Awards Committee drew attention to the matter in its report and noted, “…the drop-out was due largely to unpreparedness of a large number of candidates for the examination.”
TAC has recommended that measures be put in place to assist candidates who register for the examination to obtain guidance and support that would help them properly prepare the examination.
This support the Committee suggested may be in the form of additional resource materials and tutor support.
The absenteeism was particularly evident in human and social biology with over 1,600 of the 3,986 candidates absent; principles of business with over 1,500 candidates absent; English with over 3,000 absentees and mathematics with over 4,000 absentees.
Entries
This year 26,455 candidates registered for the January sitting compared with 27,775 in 2012, while 59,363 subject entries were received, compared with 65,104 entries in 2012. Of the total population writing the January examinations, 52 percent were 19 years old and over.
