UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
ITALIAN
May 2011
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS EXAMINERS’ REPORT
IM EXAMINERS’ REPORT MAY 2011
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL ITALIAN
May
May
May
May
%
%
%
%
2008
2009
2010
2011
No. of Candidates 220 100.0 199 100.0 207 100.0 205 100.0
Grades A – C
128 58.2 119 59.8 125 60.4 125 61.0
Grades A – E
186 84.4 170 85.4 181 87.4 180 87.8
Grade A
Grade B
Grade C
Grade D
Grade E
Failed
Absent
15
32
81
31
27
26
8
6.8
14.5
36.8
14.1
12.3
11.8
3.6
15
31
73
28
23
24
5
7.5
15.6
36.7
14.1
11.6
12.1
2.5
13
36
76
29
27
24
2
6.3
17.4
37.7
14.0
13.0
11.6
1.0
12
34
79
24
31
21
4
5.9
16.6
38.5
11.7
15.1
10.2
2.0
After falling drastically from 316 in 2006 to 260 in 2007, to 220 in 2008 and then to 199
in 2009, the number of candidates this year has been almost equal to last year’s, but still,
the hundred and twenty students that have been lost in the previous four years have not
been recovered. This year there were 266 candidates at Advanced Level, and those opting
for the Intermediate were 61 less, 205, when one expects this level to be more available
to students with different choices of “A Level” subjects. Apparently the IM in Italian is
not considered useful or appealing enough and the Board would be interested to know the
teachers’ views on the reasons for this difference, because these figures go against the
trend in other subjects, e.g. English (AM 545 – IM 1572), Maltese (AM 471 – IM 623)
and French (AM 85 – IM 121). This fact is quite disappointing and surprising, when one
considers that failures at IM are only 10%, compared to the 24% at AM.
General Performance
Exercise
Average 2010 Average 2011 Maximum (+/- half)
13.03
13.15
20 (+ 2.15)
Oral
5.36
5.17
10 (+ 0.17)
Listening Précis
11.16
9.23
20 (– 0.77)
Comprehension
11.17
8.60
20 (– 1.40)
Essay
16.04
16.96
30 (+ 1.96)
Literature
Average of Totals
56.76
53.12
100 (+ 8.12)
Overall performance has been good again this year. Although the average mark of the
totals is three and a half points less than last year’s, it is still 3.12 points above 50%. The
average marks in three sections of the exam are above half the maximum, namely in the
oral, in the listening précis and in literature, but it fell slightly below the halfway mark for
the written comprehension and it fell by almost two points in the essay. The performance
in the written comprehension is particularly disappointing because formerly candidates
IM EXAMINERS’ REPORT MAY 2011
used to do quite well in the passive skills and made up for what they lost in the essay. It is
probably due to a reduction in the candidates’ exposure to spoken and written Italian by
watching less television and reading less newspapers and books. This trend means that
more exposure has to be brought into the classroom.
In the comprehension test candidates showed the usual lack of ability to extract the right
answer to certain inferential questions. More practice is required on this level during the
two-year course so that students will learn how to draw the correct information from the
context. Most spelling and grammatical errors can be reduced with more careful time
management.
The Chairperson
Board of Examiners