The following are the groups of subjects that you should expect to study when you attend secondary school in Kenya. A student is expected to study at least 7 of these subjects in order to successfully sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination at the end of the four years of high school.
The subjects are grouped into 5 distinct groups:- core subjects, sciences, humanities, applied technical subjects and finally, languages and others. The subjects groups and their subsequent subject codes are as below.
Group I: Core Subjects
Group 1 subjects, also called the core, compulsory or mandatory subjects comprise of the below subjects. A student must sit for English, Kiswahili and one of the Mathematics subjects.
101 – English (ENG)
102 – Kiswahili (KIS)
121 – Mathematics A (MAT)
122 – Mathematics B (MAT B)
Group II: Sciences
Group 2 comprises four science subjects. A student must sit for at least two of these subjects.
232 – Physics (PHY)
233 – Chemistry (CHE)
236 – Biology (BIO)
237 – General Science (GSC)
Group III: Humanities
Group 3 comprises five humanities subjects. A student must sit for at least one of these subjects.
311 – History and Government (HAG)
312 – Geography (GEG)
313 – Christian Religious Education (CRE)
314 – Islamic Religious Education (IRE)
315 – Hindu Religious Education (HRE)
Group IV: Applied Technical Subjects
Group 4 comprises eleven applied technical subjects.
441 – Home Science (HSC)
442 – Art and Design (ARD)
443 – Agriculture (AGR)
444 – Metalwork (MW)
445 – Woodwork (WW)
446 – Building Construction (BC)
447 – Power Mechanics (PM)
448 – Electricity (ECT)
449 – Drawing and Design (D&D)
450 – Aviation Technology (AVT)
451 – Computer Studies (CMP)
Group V: Languages and Others
Group 5 comprises six subjects from languages and business studies.
501 – French (FRE)
502 – German (GER)
503 – Arabic (ARB)
504 – Kenya Sign Language (KSL)
511 – Music (MUS)
565 – Business Studies (BST)
How to Calculate KCSE Mean Grade
- Group I – 3 subjects
- Group II – 2 subjects
- Group III – 1 subject
- A student can choose the seventh subject from Group II or Groups III, IV or V.
To get a mean grade based on the KCSE grading system, KNEC averages a student’s score in all the seven (7) subjects.
KCSE total Grading structure
- A (plain): 80 – 100
- A- (minus): 75 – 79.99
- B+ (plus): 70 – 74.99
- B (plain): 65 – 69.99
- B- (minus): 60 – 64.99
- C+ (plus): 55 – 59.99
- C (plain): 50 – 54.99
- C- (minus): 45 – 49.99
- D+ (plus): 40 – 44.99
- D (plain): 35 – 39.99
- D- (minus): 30 – 34.99
- E: – 29.99
KCSE Subject Grading System
The system is based on a numeric 12-point scale from 1-12 and an expanded letter grade ranging from A to E as enumerated below
- A (plain): 12 points
- A- (minus): 11 points
- B+ (plain): 10 points
- B (plain): 9 points
- B- (minus): 8 points
- C+ (plus): 7 points
- C (plain): 6 points
- C-(minus): 5 points
- D+(plus): 4 points
- D (plain): 3 points
- D-(minus): 2 points
- E: 1 point