IEB matric pass rate increases to 98.6%

Johannesburg - The Independent Examinations Board's (IEB) matric result pass rate for 2013 increased to 98.6% this year from last year's 98.2%.

"[A total of] 9 580 full-time and 586 part-time candidates from 185 schools across the country wrote the... IEB National Senior Certificate examinations in November 2013," IEB CEO Anne Oberholzer said in a statement on Tuesday.

"All candidates that passed achieved a pass that is good enough to enter tertiary study at one of the three levels."

Eighty-five percent of the pupils who wrote the IEB matric exam would be able to study towards a degree. Twelve percent qualified for entry to diploma study and 1.5% could study towards a higher certificate.

In 2013, an additional 621 pupils wrote the IEB exam due to four new schools joining the system and increased pupil numbers at the other institutions. Besides the schools in South Africa, 13 schools in Namibia, Swaziland and Mozambique also wrote the IEB exams.

Oberholzer said 55 pupils completed a combined NSC-Abitur qualification offered by the German schools in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. This allowed them access to university study in South Africa or Germany.

A-level

Also released on Monday were the results of the IEB advanced programme (AP) courses. Oberholzer said the curricula and assessment of the advanced programme courses offered in English, Afrikaans and mathematics were benchmarked as equivalent to A-level courses in the United Kingdom.

"These courses are available to Grade 12 learners in IEB schools, as well as schools that write the state NSC examination."

Out of the 2103 candidates who wrote AP mathematics, 81% passed. Of the 555 candidates who wrote AP English, 96.2% passed.

AP Afrikaans was offered for the first time in 2013 and achieved a 100% pass rate.

Oberholzer said the exams were problem-free and approved by Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in general and further education and training.

Matric results for the 2013 National Senior Certificate examinations will be released on 6 January.