Saturday, August 11 2012

A third consecutive year of decline in students’ performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) has prompted the Subject Advisory Committee (SAC) of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) to call for action across the region to address deficiencies in the subject.

In a release yesterday CXC said for the May/June exam 33 percent of entries for Mathematics achieved Grades I-III which are acceptable grades at CSEC.

However, “this is a further decline in performance when compared with the last two years. In 2011, 35 percent earned similar grades and in 2010 the figure stood at 41 percent.

In their report of the subject to the Final Awards Committee, the SAC said it was “deeply concerned about the quality of work produced by candidates at this level.” Students showed that topics such a range, perimeter and profit and loss that should be covered at the lower level, were not fully understood.

On one question which tested perimeter and area, 36 percent of candidates scored no marks while a question which tested algebra, 33 percent of candidates made no marks.