A quantitative analysis study of the Junior Lyceum Entrance Examinations 2001

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine whether there were sex or age differences in the scholastic performance of students who sat for the Junior Lyceum Entrance Examination (JLEE), in May 2001. The study also examined whether the average sentence length or word count in the English compositions contributed to the achievement of a better grade. This included a brief section on error analysis. The sample consisted of 400 students, 191 boys and 209 girls. Another random sample of 106 boys and 100 girls was taken for the analysis of the compositions. The students were classified into four age groups: Oldest, Middle Older, Younger Middle and Youngest. The five subjects of the JLEE were Maltese, English, Mathematics, Religion and Social Studies. The results show that a significant relationship between sex and performance was found in two out of the five subjects, which are Maltese and Mathematics. Girls outperformed boys in Maltese whereas boys performed better in Mathematics. A more pronounced significant relationship was found to exist between age and performance in the JLEE 2001. Students born towards the beginning of the year obtained significantly better results than their younger peers in most of the tests carried out.