A fifth of all students who sat for their SEC exams, better known as O-levels, received an unclassified ‘U’ grade in the 42 subjects for which exams were held. 

According to the general statistics report published by MATSEC for the May examination session, there were a total of 36,044 exam papers, around 20% of which received a ‘U’ grade.

O-levels are graded over a number scale between one to eight, with grades 1-5 considered a pass and grades 6-8 considered a fail in the chosen subject. A ‘U’ grade generally indicates that the exam could not be marked according to MATSEC’s grading rubric and is also considered a failing grade. 

Overall, some 60% of students achieved a passing grade in their O-levels, a slight decrease from the 62% registered in the May session of 2022.

Conversely, 32% obtained failing grades in 2023, a slight uptick from 30% the year prior. Some 7% of students were registered as absent from their exams, which remained largely on par with 6.7% of absentees registered in 2022. 

The results:

• Only 5.35% of students achieved a grade 1 in their exams, the top classification that one can achieve;
• 10.26% received a grade 2;
• 14.77% received a grade 3;
• 16.85% a grade 4;
• 13.66% a grade 5,
• 6.31% a grade 6;
• 4.49% a grade 7;
• 0.57% a grade 8. 

In core subjects, when it comes to Mathematics, just over half of students received a passing grade at 51%, while 40% received a failing grade and 8% were absent.

Under a third (30.5%) of students received a failing grade for Maltese, while around 60% passed and 6% were absent. Almost three-quarters (72.98%) of students passed their English language exam, while 23% failed and 4% were absent. 

Drop in A-level and intermediate exams

According to the figures, students sat for almost 500 fewer A-level exams this year compared to 2022.

Students sat for a total of 4,888 A-level exams, a drop of 493 from the 5,381 exams listed last year.

Over a third of A-level exams were awarded a mark lower than D, while 1,775 exams received a grade of E, F or were marked as absent. In total, just over 600, or 12%, were awarded a grade of F.

Meanwhile, just over one in five were awarded the top grades of A or B, while a quarter of all exams were awarded a grade of C.

These figures are in line with the grades awarded during the same exam period last year, although the number of exams receiving a fail grade dipped slightly from 13.7% last year to 12.4% this year. 

The most popular A-level subject was English, with 736 students sitting for the exam. Only 80 of these were awarded a grade of A or B, compared to the 108 who failed the exam.

Other popular subjects included biology, marketing, Maltese and pure mathematics. Nonetheless, the number of students who sat for an A-level exam in either Maltese or biology each dropped by 69.

Meanwhile, of the almost 7,500 intermediate-level exams graded, just under 2,000, or one in four, received a grade of C. In total, 671 were awarded a grade of either A or B, while over 1,200 were awarded a fail. 

This was a significant drop from the 9,115 intermediate-level exams registered in the Spring session of 2022.

Aside from the compulsory Systems of Knowledge, English was the most popular exam with 1,115 students sitting for the exam. Only 19 received a grade of A, with almost a third of all students receiving a C.