With reference to the article entitled “43 per cent of 16-year-olds did not sit for ‘O’ level exams” by Annaliza Borg (TMIS, 22 July), and following the publication of an initial summary of statistics regarding the May 2012 SEC results (www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/158446/May_2012_SEC_session_-_stats.pdf), the MATSEC Support Unit would like to highlight some data in anticipation of its yearly publication that purports a very detailed statistical analysis of the results obtained. This report will be published around January, following the September examination session. It is hoped that the information reported below gives a clearer picture of the situation.

In total, there were 7,295 candidates who registered for SEC examinations for the May 2012 session. The largest numbers of registrations was from the 1996 cohort, i.e. the cohort that turned 16 in 2012. There were 4,944 infants (2,555 males and 2,389 females) born in 1996 [NSO]. This means that 82.6 per cent (4,086 out of 4,944) of the children born in 1996 registered for SEC examinations in May 2012 – 80.3 per cent of males (2,051 out of 2,555) and 85.2 per cent of females (2,035 out of 2,389) registered these examinations in 2012.

Dr Martin M. Musumeci

MATSEC Executive Director