10 responses to “At sixes and sevens”

1. 

   Bob Thorsen

   14 years Ago

   263,034 candidates wrote Mathematics as a matric subject in 2010, 9% fewer than in 2009. 47.4% achieved a mark of more than 30%, and 30.9% achieved 40% or more

   Was this before or after the marks were adjusted upward? Stats are often what you would like to see, not always very honest…

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2. 

   Wilna Loxey-ford

   14 years Ago

   You say 9% fewer, but we dont know what % of all kids actually wrote Maths. Then I would like to know which % got over 60% for maths

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3. 

   Archana

   14 years Ago

   I think it is pathetic, that only 30% of 263,000 odd candidates can get nore than 40% in Maths, as subject essentail for all walks of life.
   So what is the issue, poor teaching? Poor syllabus? Poor attitude towards Maths?
   This could become a chronic disease and needs to be treated on a warfooting.

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4. 

   Jihaad Boltman

   14 years Ago

   Even though a different view also has merit, I have always considered Mathematics as the most important ‘competitive advantage’ for matriculants. An A for Higher Grade Maths send the world spinning! What I’d really like to know is the correlation between success at Maths and success in the workplace – especially wrt to our captains/leaders of society. I believe there is too much emphasis/fuss on ‘mid-season’ results eg Matric, when we all know that it’s economic value add that counts – which is only evident in the ‘economically active phase’. Can someone help, please?

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5. 

   Amnon Melzer

   14 years Ago

   A total of 263,034 candidates wrote the Mathematics paper, 41% of the total. As far as I’m aware, the proportion who achieved 60% or more is not published.

   Can anyone out there help?

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6. 

   Terry Roe

   14 years Ago

   If we ever hope to produce results in any form of business or industry that even touches on Maths, we may as well admit to the truth that 90% of those writing Maths are way below the standards and capabilities we require for any form of success. Honesty is the only policy!!!

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7. 

   Johan

   14 years Ago

   Pretty useless information if we do not know how many will actually continue with degrees requiring maths, or at least qualify for such courses.

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8. 

   Joe Bullish

   14 years Ago

   Shocking state of affair!
   These figures represent poor comprehension of elementary tenets of the subject to say the least.Urgent intervention is needed to address and correct this malady fast becoming ‘syndromic’ with learners.

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9. 

   Doron Isaacs (Equal Education)

   14 years Ago

   Since the introduction of national examinations almost all students write either Maths or Maths Literacy. Maths has a pass-rate of 47.4%, the lowest of all subjects, more difficult even than Physical Science. On the other hand, Maths Literacy, at 86%, dramatically up from 74.7% in 2009, has the highest pass-rate of all content subjects. A big shift in students from Maths to Maths Literacy would help to explain improved overall results. And that is precisely what has happened.

   Adjusting for changes in the total number of candidates, the number writing Maths Literacy rather than Maths increased by around 18,000 students between 2009 and 2010. This shift meant that whereas the combined pass-rate for Maths and Maths Literacy was 62.7% in 2009, it was 68.2% in 2010, an overall jump of 5.5%. This helps to explain the 7.2% overall improvement in matric pass-rate.

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10. 

    Stephen McBride

    14 years Ago

    Matric results are symptomatic of what is happening lower down. Learners are passing Maths with 30% and in the poorer schools with 25% in mathematics (of course the report would say 30%). Most of these marks are achieved by “take home” projects etc and the exam marks in maths is muuuch lower, as low as 15% in some cases. They are not ready for Maths in Grade 10 and thus the teaching and examining is watered down and there is NO moderation or internal papers to ensure that the results are up to scratch. So I do not wonder that whole schools of learners fail Maths in Matric whilst they believe and are have reports that say they “passes” Maths in Grade 11. A teacher

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