Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate

The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate is for high school level. This examination marks the end of secondary level education in the Commonwealth Caribbean countries. This examination evaluates and attests the student’s academic accomplishment after the secondary education.

CSEC Proficiencies

The CSEC subjects are assessed for certification at three proficiency levels -

Basic
General
Technical

The basic proficiency provides knowledge, skills and abilities related to the completion of a secondary level studies. While the general and technical proficiencies lay down the base for students to go for further studies or enter the workplace.

Eligibility

Candidates at public secondary schools are eligible to sit for CSEC examination. Candidates from private educational institutions above the age of 10 are eligible. Also, candidates whose age is at least 16 years are also eligible to sit for this examination.

CSEC Subjects Offered

The CXC offers a total of 33 subjects, out of which at General Proficiency there are 28 subjects, and at technical proficiency there are 5 subjects being offered.

Candidates can sit for any number of subjects they want to in a single sitting.

Subjects are:

Additional Mathematics
Agricultural Science (Double Award)
Agricultural Science (Single Award)
Biology
Building Technology
Caribbean History
Chemistry
Clothing & Textiles
Economics
Electronic Document Preparation & Management
English A
English B
Food & Nutrition
French
Geography
Home Economics Management
Human & Social Biology
Information Technology
Integrated Science
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Music
Office Administration
Physical Education & Sport
Physics
Principles of Accounts
Principles of Business
Religious Education
Social Studies
Spanish
Technical Drawing
Theatre Arts
Visual Arts

Registration and Fees

In-school candidates and private candidates must register by their schools or educational institutions by December.

Private candidates must fill out a CSEC entry form that can be obtained from the council or Ministry of Education of that region. Fill the form and submit it by September if you want to appear for CSEC exam held in January; and submit the form by November for exam in May/June.

In order to sit for CSEC examinations, candidates must pay a certain amount of fee that varies.

Examination Dates

The CSEC examination is held in January for resit and private candidates and in May or June for in-school candidates and private candidates.

To know more about the dates and deadlines, visit the official website of Caribbean Examinations Council

**Resit candidates are those who during the exam registration, wants to reuse his/her SBA (school based assessment) score. Candidate must have a SBA score of 50% or more.

**Private Candidates are those that are registered as part-time centres and also includes an educational institution that not recognized by the Council as a full-time educational institution.

CSEC Grading System

A 6-point grading system is being used. Candidates are given overall grades and profile grades. The overall grades range from I to VI, and profile grades A to B.

Overall grades - I, II, III, IV, V, VI

Profile grades - A, B, C, D, E, F

The overall grades I to III at the general and technical proficiencies are considered valid for entry into 4-year study programmes at universities and for admission into the teachers’ colleges, community colleges, and any higher education institution.