The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) says while there has been some improvement in the regional pass rate for CSEC Mathematics, the subject remains a cause for concern.  

Director of Operations at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Dr Nicole Manning, stated this during the official release of the results of the 2023 CXC exams on Thursday in St Kitts and Nevis.  

Dr Manning, during an analysis of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results said in Mathematics, 43 per cent of candidates got acceptable grades, up from 37 per cent in 2022. She said although there was some improvement in Mathematics, CXC thought it would have been more.  

The number of Grade Ones achieved this year in the subject was 8 per cent (a 2 per cent increase). 

“So it is still a cause for concern, especially with the fact that the paper is standard… and has been a standard paper from day one. It’s just something we have to look at.”  

In English A, the pass rate increased from 73 per cent to 78 per cent this year, the highest over the past three years, with the number of Grade Ones far more than what was recorded in 2021.  

The pass rate for Caribbean History is 72 per cent with stability in the number of Grade Ones achieved (13 per cent), while the pass rate for Chemistry is 66 per cent, not back up to where CXC wants to see, with the number of Grade Ones less than last year.  

French had 59 per cent overall acceptable grades with an increase in the number of Grade Ones from 14 to 15 per cent.  

Human and Social Biology saw an increase from 67 per cent to 71 per cent acceptable grades, and an increase in Grade Ones from 12 per cent to 14 per cent.  

Candidates achieved 86 per cent overall acceptable grades in Information Technology, an increase from the previous year.  

The pass rate for Integrated Science continues to be stable.  

Office Administration had a pass rate of 89 per cent, the highest over the past four years, with 21 per cent achieving Grade Ones, the highest also seen over the last four years.  

Dr Manning noted the business subjects did very well this year as Principles of Accounts had 72 per cent overall acceptable grades and Principles of Business had 80 per cent.  

She said interesting was Social Studies, in which candidates got 54 per cent acceptable grades, a reduction from previous years.  

Spanish saw 54 per cent of candidates achieving acceptable grades and continued stability in the number of Grade Ones.  

Turning to the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results, Dr Manning highlighted some of the subjects.  

Caribbean Studies had 97 per cent acceptable grades, an increase, which was noted as the largest amount over the past three years in terms of candidates receiving acceptable grades.  

In Communication Studies, 94 per cent of candidates received acceptable grades.  

In French Unit I, 95 per cent of candidates achieved acceptable grades while in French Unit II the overall performance for acceptable grades was 99 per cent, an all-time high from the past three years, with the number of Grade Ones moving from 16 per cent to 41 per cent.  

Green Engineering Unit 1, which is a fairly new CAPE subject had a 98 per cent pass rate performance with the number of Grade Ones moving from zero in 2022 to 9 per cent in 2023.  

The pass rate for Green Engineering Unit II is 98 per cent with an increase in the number of Grade Ones – 6 per cent up from 3 per cent last year.  

Dr Manning said there is a future for the latter subject and is encouraging Education ministries to look at them.