Sixty-two per cent of the subject entries presented in the May/June sitting achieved Grades I – III, the acceptable grades; compared with 66 per cent in 2011 and 69 per cent in 2010.

Of the 62 per cent achieving acceptable grades, 11.30 per cent achieved Grade I, 22.39 achieved Grade II and 28.46 per cent achieved Grade III.

Performance in English A declined by 20 per cent this year after a three-year trend of continuous improvement. Forty-seven per cent of the entries achieved Grades I – III compared with 67 per cent in 2011.

Thirty-five subjects were offered for the May/June sitting.

Performance improved on nine subjects, declined on 19 and remained the same on six.

One new subject, Additional Mathematics was offered for the first time.

There was an increase in candidate entries and subject entries; 156, 968 candidates registered for the May/June CSEC examinations, compared with 153,120 candidates in 2011.

Six hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred and ten thousand subject entries were submitted.

Two syllabuses, Biology and Chemistry were revised and will be distributed to schools in 2013 with first examinations slated for May/June 2015.

Three syllabuses - Geography, Home Economics and Physics are under review.