The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) today held a virtual ceremony for the announcement of the July-August 2020 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) examination results.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of students in Guyana and across the Caribbean wrote the exams and obtained commendable scores.
Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC)
At the CSEC (CXC) level, Director of Operations- Examination Services Division, Nicole Manning said improved performance was recorded in Mathematics and English Language (English ‘A’).
Fifty-two per cent of candidates achieved acceptable grades (Grade One-Three) in Mathematics; a slight improvement from 46 per cent in 2019 and 49 per cent in 2018. Further, 12 per cent of students were able to earn Grade Ones, as compared to 8 per cent of candidates in 2019.
For English ‘A’, 82 per cent of students earned Grade One-Three passes, with 23 per cent being Grade Ones, compared to 79 per cent Grade One-Three passes in 2019 with 20 per cent Grade Ones.
Moreover, 70 per cent of students passed Social Studies, a five per cent growth from the previous year.
Science subjects such as Chemistry, Biology and Integrated Science all saw improvements with acceptable grades.
However, CXC recorded a decline in the performance for Information Technology (IT). In 2019, 92 per cent of registered candidates passed the examination, but this slipped to 90 per cent in 2020. Also, Grade Ones reduced from 33 per cent in 2019 to 27 per cent this year.
Overall, a 3.81 per cent increase in acceptable grades for all subject areas was recorded.
CXC Registrar, Dr Wayne Wesley said he was satisfied with the overall results, given the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted too that as the world continues to grapple with the impacts of the disease, innovative solutions would need to be found to reduce learning loss.
Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE)
According to Manning, acceptable grades (Grade 1-4) were also recorded at this level, along with some advancements in some subject areas.
Pure Mathematics: Unit One, saw a modest boost from 60 per cent in 2018 and 71 per cent in 2019, to 72 per cent in 2020. Candidates with Grade ones totalled 22 per cent, a two per cent increase from last year.
Caribbean Studies recorded a one per cent elevation – from 98 per cent in 2020 and 97 per cent in 2019. Twenty-four per cent of students attained Grade Ones, compared to 20 per cent in 2019.
Other improvements were recorded in Communication Studies, History: Unit One, Management of Business: Unit Two, Computer Science and Digital Media: Unit One.
On the other hand, Animation and Game Design: Unit One recorded a decline from 100 per cent in 2019 to 97 per cent in 2020.
Further, despite improvements in several subjects, CAPE recorded a 1.47 per cent reduction in acceptable grades.
CXC candidates across the Caribbean will be able to access their exam results online at 5pm today, using their Centre Number and Candidate Number at www.cxc.org/student-results/
