| Hakim Hayat |

THE Examinations Department of the Ministry of Education (MoE) yesterday released the examination results of the Brunei-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) ‘O’ Level and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) for October/November 2018.

Statistics released by the MoE show that out of the 6,221 ‘O’ Level and IGCSE candidates, 1,162 or 18.38 per cent have achieved eight to 11 ‘O’ Levels, which is 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 have 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 have attained at least five ‘O’ Levels, which is 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 have attained at least four ‘O’ Levels, which is an increase of 2.42 per cent from the previous year.

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.

Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar Secondary School has retained its position with 100 per cent passes (at least five ‘O’ Levels) as with the previous year, while another school achieved a 97.75 passes and two more achieving 83.72 and 80 per cent passes respectively.

The MoE said 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 in the overall performance for subjects, the number of candidates who achieved Grades A-C for 18 out of 31 subjects increased between 0.22 per cent to 46.89 per cent. The subjects are Bahasa Melayu, Islamic Religious Knowledge, English Language, Mathematics Syllabus ‘D’, Combined Science, Malay Literature, Hafaz Al-Quran, History, Geography, Sociology, Additional Mathematics, Design and Technology, Food and Nutrition, Art and Design, Travel and Tourism, Commerce, Principles of Account, and Business Studies.

For the IGCSE examination, 69 (5.37 per cent) out of 1,285 candidates attained Grades A-C in English as a Second Language Code 510, while for IGCSE English as a Second Language Code 511, 94 candidates (8.67 per cent) from a total of 1,084 attained Grades A-C. Out of the 2,680 who sat for the IGCSE Mathematics, 539 (21.11 per cent) achieved Grades A-C, which is an increase of 2.45 per cent. The French Language subject has retained its 100 per cent attainment of Grades A-C for two consecutive years.

For the Information and Communication Technology subject, 46.41 per cent of the candidaites achieved Grades A-C, which is an increase of 10.77 per cent, while Physical Education saw a 51.35 per cent achievement, which is an increase of 27.44 per cent.

Students who sat for the examination can obtain their result slips from their schools during school hours, while private candidates can obtain theirs from the Examinations Department during office hours.

Students wishing to sit for the Brunei-Cambridge GCE ‘O’ Level / IGCSE examinations for May/June this year should register immediately at their respective schools, while private candidates can register at the Examinations Department before the closing date on February 14.