Few ‘A’ grades in A-levels, high fail rates in sciences

A total of 1,216 candidates sat for their A-levels in a second session, with 262 sittings marked as absent.

Fail rates (Grade F) were especially high in major subjects like Biology (42%), Religious Knowledge (42%), Accounting (40%), Chemistry (31%), and Pure Maths (28%).

In total, 1 in 5 students failed their A-level.

The most popular subjects sat for were Marketing (250), English (211), Maltese (153), Pure Maths (94), followed by the sciences, accounting and sociology.

No candidates sat for Latin or Greek, while the least sat-for languages at A-level were Russian (3), French (3), Arabic (3), Spanish (5), Italian (8) and German (11).

In total, grades A were clinched by just 24 candidates (1.9% of total), and Bs by 81 (6.6%).

The average grades were those of C and D (249 and 240 respectively), and Fs (249) which are insufficient as a pass-mark.

The most grade As, in absolute terms, were in Maltese (5 out of 153 sitters), followed by German (3 out of 11), and Sociology (3 out of 13).

In total, 2,618 candidates sat for both their Advanced and Intermediate examinations. This included, 517 who sat for their Systems of Knowledge examination, with 51 absent and 90 failing and mainly 159 getting a C grade.

The most sat-for Intermediate subject was English, 696, with 13 getting a Grade A, 51 getting a Grade B, and 265 getting a Grade C.

Another 420 chose Psychology, where 14 obtained a Grade A.