End of Key Stage 4 (S3) examinations results - An overview |30 January 2018

As part of its emphasis on accountability and transparency, the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development is publishing the End of Key Stage 4 examinations, focusing on the trend in performances by subject in the last five years in state schools, and the Pass Rates and Grades Distributions by school and subject for 2017.

The aims of End of Key Stage 4 examinations are primarily to:

• • Assess the level of achievement of learning targets at the end of Key Stage 4;
• • Help students and parents make more informed decisions on subject options and choose the most appropriate pathways they want to pursue in the next stage of secondary level;
• • Influence the design of learning programmes and help stimulate improvement of learning;
• • Help students prepare for studies beyond Key Stage 4.

The accompanying Tables 1 and 2 and Figures 1 and 2 show the trend in performances, by subject, over the last five years related to:

         i.            The National Means for the six examined subjects (English, French, Mathematics, Combined Science, Geography and History);

        ii.            Grade Distributions in relation to the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development’s benchmark.

Tables 3.1 to 3.7 show the Pass Rate by subject and a summary of grade distributions by school and subject.

Remarks

 A total of 1286 students were registered to sit the six examinations in 2017

 compared to 1293 in 2016.

Grade Distribution A* to C by subject over the last five years

In general, achieving the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development’s bench mark of at least 50% of the  student cohort scoring grades C or better in a subject is a big challenge, especially in relation to Mathematics, Combined Science, Geography and History though the target itself seems on the conservative side.

As it stands, it looks that the set benchmark can be more realistically achieved in the languages despite there being a cause for concern in the decline of English in the last two years.

Mean score by subject over the last five years

The mean scores (%) show the percentage mark around which most students tend to score in the subject. They also show how much success the students have experienced in attaining the objectives of the Secondary 3 programmes of study in the last five years.  

The languages remain the area where students have experienced most success in, despite English showing a dip in 2017.

Performances in Combined Science, Geography and History show a worrying trend. Even at their low values of around 35%, a steep decline can be noticed in the last two years in these subjects, with the exception of Combined Science which has improved slightly in 2017.

Summary of Grade distributions by school and subject, and Pass Rates in 2017

Schools performed better in languages and worst in Geography and History, as shown by both the Pass Rates per school and per subject.

Contributed by the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development

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