There has been a sharp rise of 18 per cent in the number of students passing their English language SEC exam, possibly reflecting increased efforts by schools to raise standards in English.
The latest figures show that 69 per cent of the candidates who sat for the exam in 2002 obtained grades one to five, whereas in 2001 the pass rate was only 51.3 per cent.
Technically, grades six and seven are also pass marks, but the minimum requirement for acceptance to sixth form is a grade 5.
The improved performance in English language is even more significant when compared to the overall pass rate (grades 1-5) for all subjects, which has gone down from 62.3 per cent in 2001 to 59.9 per cent last year.
Two other basic subjects, Maltese and Mathematics, both suffered a small decline this year, with 67.8 and 57.4 per cent of students respectively obtaining grades 1-5.
The figures emerge from the report on the Secondary Education Certificate Examinations 2002 which is to be published in the coming days by the Matsec Support Unit.
Dr Grace Grima, the unit's principal research and development officer who organised the data and wrote the report, was asked why there should have been such a big jump in the number of English language passes.
"It could be due to the attempts being made by schools to improve the level of English. They are really making a conscious effort," she said.
Indeed, a close look at the figures reveals that all school sectors bar one have seen increases - in some cases very significant ones - in their pass rates.
The most noteworthy come from Junior Lyceum boys (from 41.6 per cent in 2001 to 67.7 per cent in 2002); area secondary school girls (2.4 to 11.3 per cent); Church school girls (72.4 to 89.3 per cent); Gozo schools boys (45.6 to 68.5 per cent); and post-secondary schools girls (34.2 to 60.7 per cent).
Private candidates, both male and female, also improved their results, jumping from a pass rate of just over 22 per cent to just under 50 per cent.
The best pass rate of all, at 90.6 per cent, came from girls at independent schools, rising from 81.8 per cent in 2001. Church school girls were a close second.
The pass rate for post-secondary school boys dropped slightly, from 47.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent, the only exception to the upward trend.
This year's exam was no easier than last year's, having kept the same standard and format, said the unit's director Prof. Frank Ventura.
The examiners' report on the May 2002 session made some favourable remarks about some candidates' performance in English. On the composition section in Paper IIA, for example, it was noted that "there are still pockets of good English usage in our schools. These compositions were examples of very coherent and well-written pieces of writing".
On the other hand, most candidates who sat for Paper IIB lacked planning or organisation in their compositions, demonstrated limited vocabulary and showed the negative influence of Maltese and Italian, the examiners said.
Prof. Ventura said the lower overall pass rate this year could partly be explained by a higher number of candidates than last year, with most additional candidates tending to come from the lower ability ranges.
However, the picture was different for the most important cohort of students, those who turned 16 in 2002 and made up the ranks of fifth formers for whom passing or failing the exams means the difference between going on to university and a career or taking up a vocational path - or leaving school altogether.
In 2002, this cohort did better than in the previous year. Firstly, there was an increase in the proportion of those registering for the exams: 76.4 per cent compared to 71.7 per cent in 2001. This may indicate that more students feel they have reached the standard to at least give the exams a try.
Their actual performance was also marginally better. In 2001, 10.6 per cent of the cohort gained passes in 10 subjects when passes are taken to include grades 1-5, while the figure was 10.9 per cent last year. 13.6 per cent obtained passes in 11 or more subjects in 2002 (13.1 in 2001), and 40.6 per cent (40.1 per cent in 2001) in six to 10 subjects.
Prof. Ventura remarked that many students sit for a lot of exams: 10 or more when they only need six - English, Maltese, mathematics and three other subjects - to get into sixth form.
Other observations made in the 2002 report include:
¤ Males from Church school obtained consistently high grades compared to males from other educational sectors. Females from Church schools and from the junior lyceums obtained comparable grades.
¤ 29.5 per cent of students born in 1986 (24.5 per cent of males and 35.1 per cent of females) gained the necessary passes for entry into sixth form at first try (i.e. in the May session; the September session is for re-sits).
¤ The largest number of registrations were recorded for English language (6,150), followed by mathematics (5,165) and Maltese (4,764).