The results of the September MATSEC examinations are not late, the board said in a statement today. Since 1994 the target date for publication of September results has always been 27 September. This has always been met in spite of an increase of candidates and a change in regulations over the years. This deadline will also be met this year, the statement added.

It is important to note that as of 2012 the September Intermediate and Advanced examination session is no longer a re-sit session. The new Matriculation Examination Regulations permit candidates to sit for more subjects and also allow for new registrations in September notwithstanding that the candidates would not have registered in May. Consequently, besides the written examinations, as opposed to previous years, the MATSEC Board needs to assess all the components of the examination, including the oral and aural parts in languages, and to organise interviews for coursework components in various subjects. This has to be carried out in addition to the marking of scripts and the administrative work involved, the board said.

On Wednesday, student bodies had complained that delays in the issuing of the exam results was causing undue stress to students.

In previous years, MATSEC said, the number of candidates sitting for Intermediate and Advanced level examinations used to amount to just over 1000 whereas in the current session there are 2810 candidates sitting for 57 subjects. In Advanced and Intermediate English alone, over a thousand oral examinations had to be organised whilst in previous years no orals were held since oral results of the May session used to be carried over to September. There were similar increases in other subjects with an oral component such as all foreign languages, Systems of Knowledge, Computing, Home Economics and Human Ecology, and Information Technology. Because of these increases, the last oral sessions were held on 11 September.

Furthermore, written and practical examinations were held between the 28^th August and the 5^th September. This was followed by a period of 12 working days during which these processes had to be carried out: conversion of index numbers to office numbers;distribution of scripts to markers;marking of scripts; collation of marks; grade awarding, processing of results - taking into consideration the results of the last five years - to identify those candidates who have qualified for the Matriculation Certificate over this period; printing of result slips, and preparation for posting and sending results by sms.

Despite this considerable increase in workload and the short span of time available for the whole process, the MATSEC Board assures candidates that the deadline for publication of results will be met once again. Indeed, the SEC results in 6 subjects for over 1800 candidates have been sent today (24^th September) and Advanced and Intermediate level results will be sent shortly. Last year, SEC results were sent on the 25^th September and the Advanced and Intermediate level results were sent on the 26^th September, whilst in 2013 the respective dates were the 25^th and the 27^th September.