KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has reported a decline in overall performance in the May/June 2016 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

According to a release from CXC, only 66 per cent of candidates achieved acceptable scores of grades I-III. This reflects a two percentage point decrease in comparison to 2015 when 68 per cent of candidates achieved similar grades.

While performance improved in 14 subject areas, CXC reported a decline in 17 subjects and constant grades in four. 

Among the subjects which performed at 90 per cent or better this year are Physical Education and Sport with 98 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades. Theatre Arts also topped the list with 95 per cent, Agricultural Science (Double Award) had 92 per cent pass rate, Electronic Document Preparation and Management recorded 91 per cent and Principles of Business had 90 per cent.

CXC also reported mixed results in Mathematics and English. 

In English A, there was an improvement in performance with 67 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades compared with 60 per cent in 2015. For English B however, there was a 15-percentage point decline as 62 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades this year compared with 77 per cent in 2015.

Meanwhile, there was a 13-point decline in performance in Mathematics with 44 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades this year compared with 57 per cent in 2015, CXC said. Performance also declined in Additional Mathematics: 67 per cent of entries achieved acceptable grades compared with 72 per cent last year.

The number of subject entries for the May/June 2016 sitting increased to 585,223 subject entries this year, up from 578,035 entries in 2015. However, CXC reported a marginal decline in the number of candidates sitting exam with 132,674 candidates this year in comparison to 132,824 candidates in 2015.