The Department and Ministry of Education congratulate students of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS), and other education institutions on their success in the July 2020 CXC examinations. We also congratulate our teachers, parents and all other partners who would have supported them along the way.
The Department and Ministry are aware of the concerns that have been expressed locally and regionally concerning the 2020 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) results.
We remind all teachers, parents and students of the modified process that was implemented to administer the July 2020 examinations. These modifications were necessary for the effective administration of the July 2020 Examinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
i. The normal Paper 2 (Structured Paper) examination was not administered in most subjects. Paper 2 examinations were administered for the Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and Human and Social Biology. These subjects do not have an SBA component.
ii. 2020 CSEC and CAPE Examinations comprised the normal Paper 1 (Multiple Choice Paper) and the School Based Assessment (SBA).
iii. At CAPE Paper 2 and 3 examinations were administered for the Modern Languages
(French Unit 1 and Unit 2; Spanish Unit 1 and Unit 2)
iv. All Paper 1 examinations were administrated and graded electronically. Answers were
either correct or incorrect.
v. Usually CXC moderates a sample of 5 SBAs – chosen randomly using a computerized
process. This year all the SBAs were forwarded electronically to CXC for the moderation/remarking process.
vi. The modification and remarking process could have resulted in one of two actions.
Grades for SBAs could have been increased or decreased. This means – that grades assigned to these components at the local level were not final and were subject to changes.
vii. If candidates would like to get further insights into their performance, we encourage them to follow CXC’s established procedures for the querying or reviewing of grades.
See link for further details. http://bit.ly/cxc-queries
viii. The Department of Education will continue to register the concerns of our students and make representations, on their behalf, to CXC. However, we must reiterate that there is an established process for candidates to have queries answered and reviews conducted. We encourage candidates to follow those procedures in an effort to receive feedback specific to their individual performance.
As we encourage our students to follow established procedures for queries and reviews, we call on the Caribbean Examinations Council to waive fees associated with the same. The modifications to the 2020 examination administration resulted in changes to the normal process coupled with the unprecedented concerns expressed by teachers – and students warrant a prudent review of the grading process.
The Department of Education will continue to provide administrative support to students that are submitting requests for queries and reviews.
Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
– Press Release
Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers
