The Caribbean Examiner • Vol 9 • No 1 • May 2011

The Caribbean Examiner
CXC NEWS
English B Records
Good Results for
First January Sitting
English B was offered for the first time at
a January sitting of the Caribbean Secondary
Education Certificate (CSEC) examination
2011.
Sixty-one per cent of the candidates who
offered for the examination achieved Grades
I – III, the acceptable grades at CSEC.
Of the 820 candidates who took the
examination for the first time, 50 per cent of them
performed at the higher grade levels. Twenty-four
and a half per cent of the candidates achieved
Grade I and 24.63 per cent achieved Grade II.
Reporting on candidates’ performance, the
Examining Committee noted that performance
on the Drama Profile was the most satisfactory,
while the Profile testing Poetry appreciation
was lacking.
Overall Performance
Overall performance in the January sitting
this year declined marginally when compared
with that of 2010. Forty-nine per cent of entries
achieved Grades I – III, compared with 51 per
cent in 2010.
Office Administration returned the best
performance with 77 per cent of the 1,933
candidates taking the subject achieving Grades
I – III. This was a significant improvement on
performance in 2010 when 51 per cent of the
entries achieved acceptable grades. The improved
performance has been attributed to the better
performance on Paper 03, the case study.
Social Studies also recorded improved
performance this year with 70 per cent of entries
achieving acceptable grades. This compares with
64 per cent in 2010.
Social Studies was followed by Principles
of Business with 62 per cent of entries achieving
Grades I – III, compared with 48 per cent last year.
Although there was improved performance, the
Examining Committee reported that candidates
continue to underperform in Profile 3, The
Business Environment, and urged teachers and
students to stay up to date with developments in
business and the business environment.
Sciences
Of the three Natural Science subjects
offered, performance improved in Biology and
Physics and declined in Chemistry. There was
a 17 per cent improvement in Biology with 56
per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades,
compared with 39 per cent in 2010. Performance
in Physics saw an 11 per cent improvement with
49 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades
this year compared with 38 per cent last year.
Chemistry saw a 10 per cent decline on
performance this year compared with last year.
This year 30 per cent of entries achieved Grades
I – III compared with 40 per cent in 2010. The
Examining Committee noted that the number of
candidates taking Chemistry more than doubled
this year when compared with last year. This year,
1396 candidates sat the examination compared
with 566 candidates last year.
In addition, the committee noted that this
was the first January sitting in which optional
“The Committee noted, as in previous years, that
Problem Solving and Programming, and Database Management
are the areas where performance was poor.”
48 MAY 2011 www.cxc.org