The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) will offer online and paper-based options for 2020 examinations, which it hopes to administer in July with a final timetable expected to be published next week.
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted educational programmes worldwide and during a webinar on Thursday, CXC officials unveiled plans for the administering of the up-coming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), which are normally held in May and June in countries throughout the Caribbean.
However, for this year, the exams are planned for July. During the webinar, officials advocated for online testing throughout the region and highlighted that three options are available.
These are Fully Online exams where students are connected to the exam portal for the duration of the test; Partially Online exams where students can begin the exam with internet, lose connection, then reconnect to submit their responses; and Offline exams where students will be given a paper-based exam which the exam invigilator will manually upload.
The officials explained that CXC electronic testing (E-Testing) will allow learners to take their CXC examinations using a computer or electronic device. This initiative is in keeping with CXC’s commitment to “observe global quality standards in the delivery of examination services and deliver enhanced learner experiences through the consistent use of technology.”
CXC said that the Ministry of Education for each country will determine the centres that will be used for exams, as well as the best exam mode for each centre. It emphasised that students would not be able to sit exams at home.
“There is no intention or infrastructure for students to take exams at home. They must come to an approved centre for the exam,” a CXC statement said. It added that Education Ministries will determine whether schools will provide exam devices or the students will have to use their own. CXC recommended laptops/desktops with MS Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Schools should have a minimum of one backup computer per 15 students in the event it is needed, the statement said.
In the event of computer crashes, power loss, or any disruption, invigilators are trained to handle the situation, and have the power to extend time for a candidate to complete the exam, as well as manually uploading the student’s responses, CXC said.
Meanwhile, CXC is promoting the idea of Paper 1s and School Based Assessments for most subjects with the exception of Human and Social Biology and subjects with oral/ practical components. “The format of the paper 1 exam will not be different to previous years. The time allotted for the exam will not be different. There is no intention to administer “extra questions”. Please be guided by the syllabus which prescribes the exam format for Paper 1s,” the statement said.
It was noted that at the moment, CXC cannot comment as to the weighting of each component but assured that “appropriate weighting” will be administered and will be guided by the syllabus. It was further noted that CXC cannot necessarily test all syllabus content but will work towards focusing on skills student ought to display having completed the syllabus. “CXC believes that the SBA and Paper 1 is enough to determine a valid grade for a candidate (for the subjects aforementioned),” the statement said.
Regarding no answer on unfinished SBAs, CXC will examine these on a case-by-case basis and it was noted that there will be no sampling since all SBAs must be submitted to CXC. It was noted that there is no confirmation/ receipt system in place but CXC assured that it has put many measures in place to ensure that all responses are received.
It was highlighted that schools can request a practice/demo session to acclimatise students with the new online format while demo e-tests and e-test manuals are available on CXC’s website, as well as at CXC’s learning hub, while stakeholders can contact CXC at support@cxcsupport.Freshdesk.com
It was noted that CXC will announce confirmed decisions on all aspects of the exam process, in the coming weeks.
