THE BARBADOS-based Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) says the overall performance of candidates in this year's CXC Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations showed a marginal improvement compared with 2004. It said 62 per cent of the subject entries presented for General and Technical Proficiencies achieved Grades I to III, compared with 60 per cent last year. Performance at Basic Proficiency also improved this year. Forty-one per cent of the entries presented achieved Grades I to III, compared with 29 per cent in 2004. CXC said that in 11 of the 33 subjects offered, more than 80 per cent of the candidates achieved Grades I to III, while in six of the subjects, more than 70 per cent of the candidates achieved Grades I to III. It said that in three of the subjects, less than 50 per cent of the candidates achieved Grades I to IIII. Three new subjects were examined for the first time this year, including electronic document preparation and management (EDPM); human and social biology and physical education and sport. CXC said performance on EDPM and Physical Education and Sport was excellent with 90 per cent and 91 per cent of the candidates achieving Grades I to III respectively while in Human and Social Biology, 40 per cent achieved Grades I to III. Following the trend over the last two years, performance in the Technical/Vocational subjects was again outstanding. CXC said for example, in Home Economic Management, 90 per cent of the entries achieved Grades I to III, while 86 per cent received similar grades in Food and Nutrition. The regional examination body said entries continue to grow with 138,247 candidates writing the examinations this year, compared with 132,174 candidates last year. "Subject entries reached the half million milestone this year with 528, 289 subject entries received, compared with 469 119 subject entries last year," CXC said in a statement. Reprinted from jamaica-gleaner.com