CXC concerned about cheating in May/June 2023 exams

The regional examination body, Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has raised concerns about the incidents of cheating and other exam breaches which occurred in the May/June 2023 exams.

The official results for the May/June 2023 exams were released on Thursday, August 24 and CXC Director of Operations, Dr Nicole Manning, at a ceremony hosted in St Kitts and Nevis said the number and categories of irregularities remain a concern.

The list of irregularities included cellphone use, including smart watches, cheating, disruptive behaviour, impersonation, plagiarism, territorial malpractice and unauthorized material. There were 36 cases of irregularities this year, compared to 37 last year and 30 in 2021. In the CAPE exams there was a significant increase from two in 2022 to 17 this year. However, there was a reduction in CSEC exam irregularities this year — 19 compared to 35 last year.

Dr Manning said the use of cellular phones is still the biggest issue for the CXC.

Another headache for CXC came during the peak of the exam season. Two breaches were recorded, the first on May 17 when the CSEC Mathematics Paper 2 was leaked and Dr Manning admitted the situation “added a few grey hairs to my head and … to the Registrar’s”.

She said CXC had determined the source of the leak and to mitigate, they were forced to use a modified approach where students were graded based on their SBAs and Paper 1.
“The investigation continues within territory and we are working with the police to close that matter. “

Another security breach occurred on June 14 when a fireproof cabinet with scripts and question papers was stolen in Jamaica.
Dr Manning said CXC will be implementing measures to improve security systems going forward.

Other concerns were also raised during the presentation including exam absenteeism and non-submission of School Based Assessments (SBAs).

She said while there was a reduction in candidate absenteeism, the numbers are still worrying. For CAPE, there were 9,974 candidates who did not turn up for exams, while for CSEC, recorded absents stood at 71,548. Failure to show for examinations results in a candidate receiving an Ungraded.

“It is not something that CXC wants to see and we are sure that is not something that the Ministries of Education, principals or teachers want.”

With regard to SBAs Dr Manning said: “While we had a 90,299 candidates required to submit [CAPE] SBA’s, we saw a one per cent increase over the previous year and this, in terms of the non-submission of SBAs, is a concern for us. We are going around to stakeholders and we are encouraging not only the students, the principals, the teachers but the parents to work with the students in completing those SBAs.”

She noted that for 2023, CXC reduced the requirements for CAPE SBA’s.

“The missing SBA’s are a concern because no submission means Ungraded. School Based Assessment is more than just having the candidates do something – it is an experience and I want our schools and our parents to understand that.”

For the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), there was a 92.4 per cent submission for SBA’s.

“Yes we saw a reduction in the percentage of candidates not submitting SBAs to teachers but it is still a concern. We would love to see one year we stand here and it is zero percent.”