The number of students with first-class marks in BCom Part III (honours) at Calcutta University has come down drastically, prompting the authorities to start a study to find out the reasons for the decline.

The results of BA, BSc and BCom Part III (honours) exams were announced on Friday.

Last year, as many as 2,417 of 11, 928 students had scored 60 per cent or first-class marks in the BCom Part III (honours) exams. This year, the count has dropped to 1,634 out of 10,409 examinees.

The first-class figures are arrived at on the basis of marks in the honours subjects in Part I and Part II.

This year’s batch was the first to write the BCom Part III (honours) papers since the syllabus change in 2010.

“This year, we have fewer first-class candidates. The university’s board of studies for commerce would be asked to probe what led to the drop in numbers,” said pro-VC (academic) Dhrubajyoti Chatterjee.

“In the past four-five years, the number of students with first-class marks stayed above 2,000. This year, it has nosedived. We have to find out whether the change in the syllabus had anything to do with the fall,” said Dhruba Ranjan Dandapat, a member of the board of studies on commerce.

While there is a drop in the first-class percentage, the overall pass percentage has risen to 99.84, from last year’s 95.33 per cent.

The figures suggest that compared with 2012, a larger section of students got mediocre marks this year.

The change in syllabus saw an increased weightage on economics and business mathematics and introduction of a few chapters and viva voce. Earlier, economics and business mathematics were of 100 marks each and taught only in Part II. Post-change, the papers carrying the same marks are taught in both Part I and Part II.

In Part III, 100 marks have been allotted for project work and viva.

“The weightage on the two subjects has been increased as they are an integral part of commerce. But unfortunately many students failed in maths in Part II and had to write a supplementary test. No wonder, the number of students with first-class marks has come down,” said a teacher.

In commerce, an honours student has to score 540 out of 900 — 400 in Part II and 500 in Part III — to obtain a first class.

The BA and BSc pass percentage this year stands at 97.33 and 94.37 per cent, respectively. The BA pass percentage dropped to 97.33 from last year’s 98.85. The BSc pass percentage dropped to 94.37 from 97.09 in 2013.