Sixty-eight per cent of the subject entries submitted for the Caribbean Secondary Education
Certificate (CSEC) May/June 2015 examinations achieved Grades I-III, the acceptable grades
at this level.
This compares favourably with performance in 2014 when 66 per cent of entries achieved
similar grades and continued the upward trend started in 2012 and 2013 when 62 per cent
65 per cent achieved Grades I-III respectively.
English and Mathematics
Performance in the high stakes subjects English and Mathematics continued their positive
trend. Mathematics saw an eight per cent improvement in performance with 57 per cent of
entries achieving acceptable grades compared with 49 per cent in 2014 and 35 per cent in
2013. The Subject Awards Committee reported that improvements were seen on questions
dealing with computation and consumer arithmetic; however, candidates experienced
challenges with the topics of measurement and trigonometry.
Performance in Additional Mathematics declined this year when compared with 2014. This
year 73 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 77 per cent in 2014.
Performance on both English A and English B improved slightly with 60 per cent of entries
for English A achieving acceptable grades, which represents a one per cent improvement
over 2014 and 57 per cent in 2013. Similarly for English B, performance 72 per cent of
entries this year achieved Grades I-III compared with 71 per cent in 2014.
Humanities
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) expressed concern about the performance of some
of the subjects in the Humanities cluster. TAC singled out Caribbean History, Geography and
Social Studies as subjects which have witnessed both a reduction in the number of entries
and candidates achieving Grade Is. For Caribbean History, four per cent of the entries
achieved Grade I; for Geography just under five per cent and for Social Studies just over
three per cent achieved Grade I.
Sixty-three per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades in Caribbean History compared
with 64 per cent in 2014. For Geography 62 per cent of entries received acceptable grades
compared with 67 per cent in 2014 and for Social Studies 64 per cent achieved acceptable
grades compared with 58 per cent last year.
For the two foreign languages: performance improved for Spanish and declined for French.
Sixty-eight per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades on Spanish compared with 66 per
cent last year, while for French performance dipped from 75 per cent in 2015 to 66 per cent
this year.
The French Subject Awards Committee cited general weakness in listening, writing and
analytical skills as the main reasons for the decline.
Sciences
The two Agricultural Science subjects and Integrated Science recorded improved
performance; however, the three natural sciences recorded decline in performance.
Agricultural Science Double Award recorded improved performance this year with 94 per
cent of entries achieving acceptable grades this year, compared with 75 per cent in 2014.
Performance on Agricultural Science Single Award also showed improvement with 87 per
cent of entries achieving Grades I-III this year compared with 78 per cent in 2014.
Performance on Integrated Science improved marginally when compared with 2014; this
year 71 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 68 per cent last year.
Biology, Chemistry and Physics all saw a decline in performance with Physics seeing the
largest percentage decline. This year 60 per cent of entries for Physics achieved acceptable
grades compared with 77 per cent in 2014. Chemistry saw a nine percentage point decline
in performance with 59 per cent of entries gaining acceptable grades this year compared
with 68 per cent in 2014. Performance on Biology declined from 72 per cent of acceptable
grades last year to 66 per cent this year.
There was a significant decline in performance on Human and Social Biology this year when
compared with the last two years. Forty-five per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades
this year compared with 63 per cent in 2014 and 62 in 2013. The Subject Awards Committee
noted a general lack of preparation of candidates for the examination.
Business
With the exception of Principles of Accounts, Most of the subjects in the business cluster
recorded improved performance in 2015. Principles of Business saw the largest margin of
increase – 17 per cent – with 93 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades in 2015
compared with 76 per cent in 2014.
Economics saw a thirteen per cent improvement this year. Eighty-three per cent of entries
achieved acceptable grades when compared with 70 per cent in 2014. Office Administration
recorded a similar margin of improvement with 86 per cent of entries achieving acceptable
grades in 2015 compared with 73 per cent in 2014.
Performance on Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPD) was at 90 per
cent of acceptable grades compared in 2015 compared with 86 per cent in 2014.
Principles of Accounts was the only business subject with a decline in performance. This
year 66 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 68 in 2014.
Expressive Arts
Performance improved on one of the three subjects in the expressive arts cluster and
declined on the others. Ninety-five per cent of entries for Theatre Arts achieved Grades I-III
this year compared with 94 per cent in 2014.
For Music, 70 per cent entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 78 per cent in
2014 for an eight per cent decline. Visual Arts, the other subject in this cluster saw a seven
per cent decline with 62 per cent achieving acceptable grades in 2015 compared with 69 per
cent in 2014.
Technical and Vocational
There was mixed performance in the technical and vocational subjects this year.
Performance on Clothing and Textiles remained the same with 81 per cent achieving
acceptable grades for both years.
Three subjects saw improved performance: Electrical and Electronic Technology improved
from 57 per cent in 2014 to 62 per cent this year; Building Technology – Construction moved
from 79 per cent in 2014 to 82 per cent this year; and Building Technology – Woods, 79 per
cent in 2015 compared with 76 per cent in 2014.
Performance in the other four subjects declined. Sixty-four per cent of entries for Technical
Drawing achieved acceptable grades in 2015 compared with 78 per cent in 2014. Food and
Nutrition saw a six per cent drop, from 91 per cent in 2014 to 91 per cent this year; while
both Home Economics Management and Mechanical Engineering Technology saw a five per
cent decline.
Entries
The number of candidates writing the CSEC examinations and the number of subject entries
submitted declined this year when compared with the last two years. Subject entries fell to
578, 035, down from 603, 383 in 2014 and 616, 447 entries in 2013. Candidate entries also
fell, to 132, 824 entries in 2015 from 142, 884 in 2014 and 149, 311 entries in 2013.
Mathematics had the largest subject entry with 92, 968 entries submitted this year. English
A was second with 89, 486 entries, Social Studies with 46, 904, followed by Principles of
Business with 33, 160 and Human and Social Biology with 29, 202 entries rounding off the
top five largest subjects.
Thirty per cent of entries were 17 years old; 28.5 per cent are older than 19 years, 20 per
cent are 16 years old and 15 per cent are 18 years old.
Forty-one per cent of the candidates who registered for the 2015 examination were male
and 59 per cent female.
For further information, please contact Cleveland Sam, Public Information Officer at (246) 227 1892 or via e-mail @
CSam@cxc.org.