The MATSEC Board has issued the annual statistical report on the SEC examination sessions of 2016. The document provides an overview of the administration of the examination and then reports on the registration and results data of the main session in May and the supplementary session in September, before comparing this year’s statistics with those of previous years.
This year, 5,830 candidates (2,619 males and 3,211 females) sat for SEC examinations in one or more subjects in the May session.
In 2016, the majority (63.9%) of registrations was for Paper IIA. The only subject with most applications for Paper IIB was Mathematics (55.9%). Girls were more likely to apply for Paper IIA, except for those in Gozo Schools and Church Schools.
In the September session, there were 1,797 candidates (807 males and 990 females). This means that 30.8% of the candidates who applied for the May session sat for one or more examinations in the September supplementary session.
A total of 34 subjects was offered at this level. Most candidates sat for one science examination, with Physics being the most common. Chemistry is seldom applied for as the only science subject. In 2016, 16.6% of 16-year-olds applied for examinations in the three science subjects. On the other hand, this year 50.6% of 16-year-olds applied for at least one foreign language subject.
Candidates do reasonably well in school-based assessments and oral components.
There was a total of 692 (1.9%) registrations for revision of papers in the May session. This was the highest number of candidates applying for revision of papers in recent years, especially if this is seen in relation to the decreasing number of overall registrations.
From the children born in 2000 in Malta, 94.7% obtained Grade 1 to 7 in English Language, 87.6% in Maltese and 93.4% in Mathematics. These values are considerably larger than last year’s.
In 2016, 39.1% of the 2000 cohort who sat for SEC examinations in May 2016, gained passes in nine subjects or more (Grades 1 to 7).
The full statistical reports may be accessed at:
https://www.um.edu.mt/matsec/reports/statisticalreport