Belize students improve in more than half of CXC subjects
Amandala | The preliminary May/June 2010 results of the regional examinations for secondary schools and junior colleges have been released, noting substantial improvements over the 2009 performance on a range of subjects, in some cases showing better results than the average regional performance for the Caribbean.
The release informs, “English A and English B demonstrated notable improvements of 16.5 and 24.3 percent increase respectively in the proportion of subject entries receiving satisfactory level of performance or above (grades I-III). Mathematics exhibited a 1.7 percent increase for grades I–III.”
For Belize, “Preliminary [CXC] results show that of the 31 subjects sat, performance improved in 18 subjects; declined in 12 and 1 remained the same.” Regionally, of the 34 CSEC subjects offered, performance improved in 14 subjects, declined in 14 subjects and remained the same in six subjects.
Belize performed above the regional average in Information Technology with 90% passes versus the 83% regional amount of passes. “The reoccurring challenges of Programming and Database Management were once again cited as weakness of candidates,” said the regional CXC office. “In addition, the examining committee has recommended that teachers pay more attention to the areas of Problem Solving, Programming, Database Management and Binary Arithmetic.”
Regionally, English scores increased about three percentage points. According to an official CXC release, “The examining committee attributed this year’s performance to the ability of candidates to better negotiate the Summary, Narrative and Argumentative Writing sections on the English A paper.”
Belize saw 2,663 candidates (1,480 or 55.6% females and 1,183 or 44.4% males) sit 31 General and Technical Proficiency subjects out of the 34 offered at the CSEC level. There was a substantial growth in the number of entries from Caribbean countries. Regionally, 153, 447 candidates from the Caribbean sat the exam—an increase of almost 10,000 over last year.
“Candidate entries for Mathematics and English A both passed the 100,000 mark this year. English A was the largest subject with 100,461 entries this year compared with 94,327 entries in 2009. Mathematics followed closely with 100,084 entries this year compared with 91,351 entries in 2009,” the CXC release said. “Both subjects were always the two largest at CSEC; however, one factor which accounted for the even stronger growth this year was the discontinuation of the Basic Proficiency examination in all subjects.”
The Ministry of Education also announces that preliminary results for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) show a 0.14 percentage point increase over 2009. “91.1% of the units sat were awarded Grades I – V, which are satisfactory grades and above at the CAPE level,” it said.
Grade I indicates that the candidate shows a comprehensive grasp of the key concepts, knowledge, skills and competencies required by the syllabus; whereas Grade V means a limited grasp was demonstrated.
The 178 Belize candidates, 57% of them females, registered for 35 CAPE Subject Units of the 46 offered, and performance improved in 16 subject units; declined in 9 units and 10 units remained the same.
“Computer Science Unit 2, Economics Unit 1, Law Unit 1 and 2, Literatures in English Unit 2, Management of Business Unit 1 and Pure Mathematics Unit 1 and 2 were among the subjects with the most notable improvements in 2010,” the Ministry details.
There were 100% Grade I to V scores in Computer Science Unit 2, Economics Unit 1, Law Unit 1 and 2, Literatures in English Unit 2 and Management of Business Unit 1.
It was noted, however, that candidate entries for CSEC 2010 fell by 7.2%.
The Belize Ministry of Education says that candidates with outstanding exam performances qualify for tuition scholarships and merit awards from the Ministry, as well as corporate partners in education.
The Ministry also notes that the results are only preliminary, and schools and candidates will be given time to query the grades received.
“It is not until after this period that the grades become final,” the Ministry informs.
