CXC exam date now fixed

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is assuring that its examinations will maintain their integrity come July 2020, when a modified version will be administered in the various territories.

The new date was approved at the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) Education meeting on May 8.

Wayne Wesley, CEO and Registrar of CXC said at a Zoom press conference last Thursday, May 14 that results of the July examinations will be released in the first week of September 2020.

“The modified examinations strategy to yield valid grades, assess critical competencies, and minimise the disruption to the education system during these unprecedented times will preserve the integrity of the examinations,” he said.

In his address, Wesley outlined the modified examination process, which includes the administration of at least one common paper (multiple choice assessments), school based assessments (SBAs) and Paper 032s (alternative to SBA) for private candidates and the award of final grades based on the moderated SBAs and multiple choice papers.

“During grading, CXC’s Quality Assurance Process will apply the appropriate weighting to ensure that candidates are treated fairly and in an unbiased manner,” the registrar said.

However, he also said that some subjects would require that candidates complete additional components such as paper 02, orals and a visual art journal.

These include CSEC French, Portuguese and Spanish, CSEC Human and Social Biology, CSEC Visual Arts and CAPE French and Spanish.

“This strategy will employ the e-Testing modality (online and offline). However, in territories where the infrastructure challenges are insurmountable, candidates will be allowed to sit the examinations using the paper-based modality,” Wesley said.

The possibility of cheating by students was one of the concerns raised during the press conference in relation to the security of the online portion of the exams.

But Nicole Manning, the director of operations said e-testing was not necessarily a new system as it is something that the CXC has been using in some jurisdictions.

“It is secure and we have all the systems in place to facilitate and ensure we don’t have any cheating taking place there,” she said.

Manning added that there are opportunities for persons to view what the testing looks like on the website so an idea can be garnered of what it’s like electronically.

Wesley, CXC’s registrar said that the Council’s number one priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of stakeholders during these “unprecedented times”.

He said all examination centres and invigilators will follow guidelines of national health protocols as it relates to social distancing, the wearing of masks and sanitisation.

Wesley added that the management and staff of the Council will continue to monitor the situation.

The registrar told Caribbean media persons that there will be no further postponements of the examinations. And it is expected that marking of papers will be done online.

He said also that CXC’s exam cycle is expected to revert to its normal mode in January 2021 and the modified approach is only due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.