CXC Examiner May 2012 - Caribbean Examinations Council

The Caribbean ExaminerCXC NEWSBusiness Subjects‘Pay’ Dividends inJanuary SittingPerformance improved on seven of the 13 subjects and declined onsix subjects in the 2012 January Caribbean Secondary EducationCertificate (CSEC) examinations. However, overall performancedeclined slightly by four per cent. This year, 45 per cent of entriesachieved Grades I–III, compared with 49 per cent in 2011.BusinessPrinciples of Accounts was the subject withthe greatest improvement in performance. Thisyear 63 per cent of entries achieved Grades I toIII, compared with 37 per cent in 2011, a 26 percent increase. The Subject Awards Committeeattributed the improvement to a number ofstrategies implemented by the ExaminingCommittee. These included the presentationof questions in a variety of ways: work sheets,charts and tables.Office Administration produced the bestoverall result with 88 per cent of entries achievingGrades I-III, compared with 71 per cent in 2011.The other business subject examined in January,Principles of Business, also saw improvedperformance with 71 per cent of entries achievingacceptable grades compared with 62 per centlast year.There was a 17 per cent improvement inperformance in Information Technology thisyear when compared with 2011. Forty-eight percent of entries achieved Grades I-III comparedwith 31 per cent last year. The improvement hasbeen attributed to better performance in Profile3 (Problem Solving and Programming), whichhas been an area of weakness in previous years.Performance on this profile improved by 20percentage points; from 13 per cent of entriesobtaining acceptable grades in 2011 to 33 percent this year.Improved performances were recorded inMathematics and Physics. Forty per cent of entriesachieved acceptable grades in Mathematicscompared with 37 per cent last year; while forPhysics 53 per cent of entries achieved acceptablegrades compared with 49 per cent last year.This year performance on Spanish climbedback to the 2010 levels after a dip in 2011. Sixtynineper cent of entries achieved Grades I-III,compared with 60 per cent last year.EnglishThe most significant decline in performancewas in English B, which was being offered for thesecond time in January this year. Last year whenthe subject was offered for the first time at theJanuary sitting a very satisfactory 61 per cent ofentries achieved Grades I-III. However, this yearthat percentage dropped to 32.Two major issues affected the performanceon English B. There was a very high absentee rateand some students appeared to have preparedfor the examination using the incorrect texts forSection 1, (Drama). As a result, those candidateswere unable to respond to any of the fourquestions in the Drama Section.“Questions on Section 1 are text-specificand the January 2012 examination were set onthe texts Merchant of Venice and Fences. Thosecandidates who had prepared using the June2012 texts A Midsummer Night’s Dream and OldStory Time were therefore unable to answer anyquestion in this section”, the English B SubjectAwards Committee reported to the Final AwardsCommittee. The Subject Awards Committeenoted that of the 805 candidates who wrote theexamination, 140 of them did not respond toany question in Section 1. “This difference had anegative impact on candidates’ performance onProfile 1 (Drama).”Performance also declined on English A,from 54 per cent of entries achieving acceptablegrades in 2011 to 43 per cent this year. Thepercentage of candidates achieving grades at thehigher end of the scale declined as well: Five percent achieved Grade I this year compared withnine per cent last year.“A decline in the quality of responsewas evident in Question 2, the narrativecomprehension passage, and Question 4, theshort story, based on a picture stimulus”, theSubject Awards Committee reported. TheCommittee also recommended that teachers helpcandidates master the comprehension of literarydevices and develop effective reading skills.Social Studies saw a 21 per cent decline inperformance compared with 2011; from 70 percent to 49 per cent. Performance on all threepapers declined, but significantly on Paper 02.On Paper 01, 68 per cent of entries achievedGrades I –III compared with 84 per cent in 2011;on Paper 02, 32 per cent compared with 62 percent in 2011 and for Paper 03, it was 50 per centcompared with 52 per cent last year.Additionally, performance declined onProfile 1 (Knowledge and Comprehension) onall three papers. The Subject Awards Committeeattributed this general decline in performance atthe January sitting to “unpreparedness as seen inthe lack of understanding of fundamental SocialStudies concepts, the failure to expand responsesto questions which asked for explanations,description and reasons for suggestions.”EntriesThis year candidate entries increased butsubject entries declined. Twenty-seven thousand,seven hundred and sixty candidates registered forthe 13 subjects offered. This was a slight increaseover the 27, 349 who registered in 2011. Subjectentries declined from 76, 870 last year to 64,366this year.The January sitting continues to attract theregion’s mature population. More than 50 percent or over 14,000 candidates were in the 19years and over age group, while another 3000 fellwithin the age group of 18 to 19 years.Mathematics was the most subscribedsubject with 18,402 entries, followed by EnglishA with 15,474; Social Studies 6,157 and Humanand Social Biology 4,639 entries.66 MAY 2012 www.cxc.org