| Danial Norjidi |
RESULTS for examinations at various levels of education were recently released, along with statistics pertaining to the performance attained.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) through the Examinations Department released the results for the Brunei-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) ‘AS’ and ‘A’ Level examinations for October/November 2018 on January 21.
A press release from the MoE revealed statistics showing that, out of 1,713 candidates who sat for the ‘A’ Level examination, 1,608 candidates or 93.87 per cent have attained at least one ‘A’ Level, an increase of 0.65 per cent from last year’s results.
Overall, 85.99 per cent of candidates have obtained at least two ‘A’ Levels, an increase of 3.86 per cent from 2017 whereby 91.32 per cent are school candidates, an increase of 4.01 per cent.
A total of 1,201 candidates or 70.11 per cent have achieved at least three ‘A’ Levels, an improvement of 5.21 per cent, of which 75.55 per cent are school candidates, an increase of 5.49 per cent from last year’s results.
Overall, 191 candidates or 11.15 per cent have successfully attained an ‘A’ in two to four subjects. This has shown an increase of 1.74 per cent from 2017.
It was also shared that out of 1,199 candidates who have sat for the ‘AS’ level examination, 1,129 candidates or 94.16 per cent have attained at least one ‘AS’ level, while 765 of the candidates or 63.80 per cent have attained an ‘AS’ level grade in at least two subjects. Overall, 88 candidates or 7.42 per cent attained an ‘A’ in at least two ‘AS’ Level subjects.
In addition, the examination results of the Brunei-Cambridge GCE ‘O’ Level and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) for October/November 2018 were announced on January 29.
It was reported that, according statistics released by the MoE, out of the 6,221 ‘O’ Level and IGCSE candidates, 1,162 or 18.38 per cent achieved eight to 11 ‘O’ Levels – a 0.79 per cent increase from the previous year – while 2,491 or 39.41 per cent achieved five to 11 ‘O’ Levels, which is an increase of 2.17 per cent.
A total of 2,998 candidates or 47.43 per cent attained at least four ‘O’ Levels, showing an increase of 2.50 per cent from the previous year.
Out of 6,124 school candidates, 2,490 or 40.66 per cent attained at least five ‘O’ Levels – an increase of 2.11 per cent from the previous year and the highest percentage recorded so far.
Meanwhile, 2,996 or 48.92 per cent of the candidates attained at least four ‘O’ Levels, which is an increase of 2.42 per cent from the previous year.
It was noted that a total of 269 (4.39 per cent) candidates attained Grade A in five to 11 subjects, while 19 (0.30 per cent) candidates have shown outstanding results with an aggregate of six Grade A in six to eight subjects, which is an increase of 0.02 per cent from the previous year.
In addition, 12 candidates (0.20 per cent) including four from government schools achieved Grade A in nine subjects, while 23 (0.38 per cent) candidates including seven from government schools achieved Grade A in eight subjects.
A total of 56 candidates (0.91 per cent) achieved Grade A in seven subjects, 85 candidates (1.39 per cent) in six subjects and 92 (1.50 per cent) in five subjects.
For government school candidates, 859 (16.09 per cent) attained eight to 11 ‘O’ Levels, which is an increase of 0.44 per cent from the previous year. Out of 2,491 national candidates, 1,959 (78.64 per cent) are government school candidates who have attained at least five ‘O’ Levels. This is an increase of 2.03 per cent from the previous year.
It was shared that Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar Secondary School retained its position with 100 per cent passes (at least five ‘O’ Levels) as with the previous year, while another school achieved 97.75 per cent passes and two more achieving 83.72 and 80 per cent passes.
The MoE shared that 31 out of 49 schools, comprising 23 government and eight private schools, have shown improvement between 0.71 per cent to 32.94 per cent compared to 2017.
Last year also saw 528 candidates under the General 4-Year Secondary (Year 10) Programme under SPN-21. Out of this total, 429 or 81.25 per cent are from government schools, with 286 (66.67) attaining between eight to 11 ‘O’ Levels, 400 (93.24 per cent) attaining five to 11 ‘O’ Levels, and 413 (96.27 per cent) attaining four ‘O’ Levels or above.
Meanwhile, the Primary School Assessment (PSR) results for 2018 were announced last November, and showed that Brunei Darussalam has seen a 2.83 per cent increase in the attainment of A-C grades passes across all give subjects in the examination.
It was reported on November 29, 2018 that, of the 6,260 candidates who sat for the exam, 5,454 or 87.12 per cent obtained A-D grades for all five subjects. This is an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to the 2017 results.
Twelve schools – eight government schools and four private schools – achieved 100 per cent A-C grades passes across the five subjects.
Twenty-six government schools, in-cluding five Arabic schools, achieved at least 80 per cent A-C grades passes for the five subjects, while 38 schools achieved 100 per cent A-D grades passes, comprising 19 government schools (including three Arabic schools) and 19 private schools.
Among a total of 4,414 government school candidates, 68.60 per cent or 3,028 attained A-C grades passes for the five subjects, an increase of 1.65 per cent compared to the previous year.
A total of 1,007 students or 16.08 per cent of candidates achieved ‘A’ grades for all five subjects, an improvement of 3.72 per cent from 2017. Out of this, 593 are government school candidates, an increase of 4.67 per cent from last year. Out of the 1,007 candidates who achieved five ‘A’s, 904 are Brunei citizens. A total of 451 government school candidates scored four ‘A’s and one ‘B’.
It was also reported that the 73.58 per cent A-C grades pass rate achievement in the 2018 PSR marks the second consecutive year in which improvements have been seen in this grade range for the exams (a 68.23 per cent pass rate was recorded for 2016), a sign of the ever-improving quality of education in the country.