Increased pass rates in Science, Math recorded at NGSA 2023

Positive trends have been recorded for Mathematics and Science at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), while the other two subject areas also saw steady performances.
A breakdown of the country’s performance was provided by the Senior Manager of Examinations Administrations and Security at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Teddy Rajan on Friday. These results represented students who scored 50 per cent and above at the NGSA.
The overall pass rate for Mathematics was 39.87 per cent when compared to 34.77 per cent in 2022 – a significant improvement with upward mobility in candidates securing a perfect score.
The Science pass rate was 55.11 per cent this year – an upward trend from last year’s 46.45 per cent. More candidates obtained full marks than in the last few years. Zero scores and full scores have been reversed positively in significant proportions.
Meanwhile, English recorded a pass rate of 64.47 per cent. Last year, the pass rate was 64.75 per cent. The trend of candidates scoring zero remained relatively flat. There was a 469 per cent increase over 2022 in students scoring full marks in English.
For Social Studies, there was a 0.3 per cent decrease in the performance over 2022 results, standing at 58.57 per cent. More candidates also scored full marks. “The 2023 performance exceeds historical over the current four years,” Rajan stated.
According to the CXC official, females performed better than males across the subject areas.
In terms of performance, some 3742 students scored in the first quartile, which is zero to 25 per cent. Another 3743 students scored within the second quartile of 25 to 50 per cent. In the third quartile, 3741 students scored between 50 and 70 per cent. In the fourth quartile, that is 75 to 100 per cent, 3741 students were in this bracket.
The Education Ministry has continued its collaboration with the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to administer the exams, in improving the quality of all national primary grade assessments. Teachers, subject specialists and test development officers developed the test items with the technical guidance of the Caribbean Examinations Council, addressing key areas such as item construction, weighting of items, sampling, and other psychometric elements.
Candidates were tested in four subjects namely, Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies. The examination in each subject area consisted of two papers. (Mathematics – 132.2; English – 124.7: Social Studies – 125.1; Science – 125.7).
Some 15,273 students wrote the NGSA on May 3 and 4, 2023. Of this number, 287 were Spanish-speaking students. It is the first year special material was provided to cater to these students.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand stated that this cohort of students was in the Grade Three level when the COVID pandemic struck – a foundation year in their primary education. As such, a lot needed to be done. This included activities on the Guyana Learning Channel, passing papers online, textbooks for every child, and facilities to extend the lessons and materials for every student beyond the coastland.
The Minister has promised that whichever school a student is placed in, they will benefit from the same opportunities across all regions.
“Our commitment to you is that whichever school you go to, you will have the same services. Some of that is that students can cross-stream wherever they go and write as many subjects as they want wherever they go. We’re not encouraging many subjects but we’re saying your choices should not be limited by geographical location or which school you attain,” she assured. (G-12)