Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/497863
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 APRIL 2015 16 Girls are smarter, but boys do better in mathematics JAMES DEBONO THE largest percentage of candidates who ob- tained Grade 1 overall in the majority of sub- jects in their MATSEC exams were females. But higher grades were also consistently ob- tained by males from Church schools who clearly outperform males in both state schools and independent schools. This emerges from a statistical report issued by MATSEC, which was compiled by Prof. Frank Ventura. According to the report, male and female can- didates from church schools outperform can- didates from independent and state schools in nearly all subjects except for English Language, English Literature and Physical Education, where candidates from independent schools appear to have the upper hand. Males attending church schools fare particu- larly well in mathematics. 18% of boys attend- ing church schools obtain the highest grade compared to just 0.4% of boys attending state schools and 10% of males attending independ- ent schools. In general girls do not do as well as boys in mathematics. The report shows females in independent schools doing better than their counterparts in other sectors. Females from church schools outperform all other categories in Maltese while females at- tending independent schools are the most likely to get the highest grade in English. Males from state schools seem to be consist- ently outperformed by males from church and independent schools. The report also shows fe- male candidates from state schools performing better than their male counterparts. Females did much better than males in Busi- ness Studies, Design and Technology, Eco- nomics, English Literature, European Studies, French, Geography, German, Home Economics and Textiles and Design. The report shows that 42.3% of males born in 1998 and 55.5% of females born in 1998 ob- tained the necessary passes at the end of their secondary education that qualified them for entry into Form VI for further studies. Accord- ing to the report this represented "a remarkable increase from last year's SEC examinations". This table shows that more than half of the 16-year-olds were awarded certification with Grades 1 to 5 in the following basic subjects: English Language (64.4%), Maltese (64.1%), and Mathematics (63.1%), while 53.0% of the cohort obtained Grades 1 to 5 in Physics, 49.2% in Re- ligious Knowledge and 41.2% in English Litera- ture. 87.7% (3,937 out of 4,488) of the children born in 1998 registered for SEC examinations. These are 84.4% of males (1,947 out of 2,308) and 91.3% of females (1,990 out of 2,180) registered for SEC examinations in 2104. The percentage of female applicants has been higher than that of males in all SEC examination sessions. Majority opt for only one The reports show that most candidates regis- ter for only one science subject. 2,418 registered for one science subject, 481 for two science sub- jects and only 558 for three science subjects. Al- though similar numbers of males and females opted for Physics as their single science, most of the candidates who registered only for Biol- ogy were females. Chemistry is rarely taken as one's only science subject. The largest category of candidates opting for two sciences registered for Biology and Physics. The majority of these candidates were females. 14.2% of candidates born in 1998 applied for the three sciences (13.1% of boys and 15.2% of girls). This show an increase from last year's 12.5%. Only 13 opt for three languages With regard to foreign languages, most candi- dates registered for one foreign language. Ital- ian remained the most popular option among these candidates. Among the candidates who registered for two foreign languages, Italian and French were by far the most popular. In com- parison, there were very few candidates who opted for three foreign languages. All these trends existed last year. While 2,336 registered for one foreign language, 541 registered for two foreign languages and only 13 for three. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Church school boys outperform peers in other state and private schools in Matsec 'O' levels Percentage of students obtaining Grade 1 in key subjects in State • Church • Independents English Chemistry French Physics Mathematics Maltese 5.9% 8.9% 3.8% 1% 0.4% 17.8% 9.8% 0.8% 13% 9.7% 5.9% 6.9% 12.8% 7.1% 0.4% 17.8% 12.6% 2.6% 6.7% 4% 3.9% 7.8% 9.5% 2.5% 7.2% 11.2% 7.2% 7.7% 16.1% 10.8% 9% 10.6% Percentage of students obtaining Grade 1 in key subjects in State • Church • Independents English Chemistry French Physics Mathematics Maltese 5.9% 8.9% 3.8% 1% 0.4% 17.8% 9.8% 0.8% 13% 9.7% 5.9% 6.9% 12.8% 7.1% 0.4% 17.8% 12.6% 2.6% 6.7% 4% 3.9% 7.8% 9.5% 2.5% 7.2% 11.2% 7.2% 7.7% 16.1% 10.8% 9% 10.6% News School Sex English Chemistry Math Physics French Maltese State schools Boys 43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2 38.5 State schools Girls 61.4 61.4 61.4 61.4 61.4 67.2 Church schools Boys 87.8 87.8 87.8 87.8 87.8 86.3 Church schools Girls 86.2 86.2 86.2 86.2 86.2 88.2 Ind. schools Boys 90.6 90.6 90.6 90.6 90.6 71.1 Ind. schools Girls 92.4 92.4 92.4 92.4 92.4 83.1