By Carlena Knight
Registration for the January sittings of Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) subject offerings is now ongoing.
Myrick Smith, the local CXC registrar, shared the news on state media yesterday.
According to Smith, thus far all indications show that the original format of having a Paper Two will be used.
“CXC is saying presently that we are proceeding with the January exam as normal, so we will be expecting that they revert back to the three papers but that of course will depend on, or with regards to Covid-19, as we go forward. The registration process has already started,” said Smith.
Interested persons are being encouraged to contact his office for further information.
He noted, however, that this is not set in stone as other territories are still grappling with the coronavirus.
“While we in Antigua have already started school and registration, Jamaica and other territories may not have done that yet and so I wouldn’t be surprised that there are some adjustments made to both the format of the exam as well as to the time period of the examinations in January. I suppose even the May/June session of next year,” he said.
“We hope it doesn’t happen because we know the strain and the stresses that are caused as a result of the situation with candidates, even teachers. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope that the Lord will smile on us and ease the Covid situation,” he added.
This news comes just hours ahead of the CSEC and CAPE results being released online yesterday afternoon.
A total of 2,273 individuals sat the CSEC exams with 1,427 coming from school plants and 846 from private institutions while, for CAPE, 577 individuals took that exam.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the students were forced to write the exams in July instead of the customary May-June time period.
They were also required to only be tested via the Paper One (multiple-choice) format, as the Paper Two – which consisted of essay type answers – had been eliminated.
Smith shared that despite the absence of a Paper Two, the original grading format used by CXC was used with paper one, graded as 30 percent, and the SBAs, 20 percent.
What will be changed is the emphasis on the profiles which comprise of all exams. These profiles are knowledge and comprehension which garners 28 marks, practical which is 24, and use of knowledge, eight.
“Based upon the performance of the candidate in those areas as well as the forecast grade that all teachers are expected to indicate the likely grade that they think a candidate will get, CXC will also take that into consideration,” he explained.
“They will look at the trends of the accuracy of the forecast grade by the teacher over the years and, using that along with other test analysis instruments that they use, they should be able to arrive at a grade which would be equivalent to the grade that the candidate would have got if they had done the Paper Two,” Smith said.
“So, it is not a simple process; it is a little bit complex but CXC is quite satisfied that using this, even though Paper Two is not used as a testing instrument this time around, they should be able to come up with a grade which is equivalent to the grade of previous years.”
He assured the public that the validity and credibility of the grades for this year is intact despite the drastic changes.
The CXC registrar noted, however, that the results were “preliminary results” and could be changed if need be.