#BTColumn – A look at CXC exams 2020

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Ralph Jemmott

Something seems to have gone terribly wrong with the 2020 CXC Examinations in both the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency tests.

What was at first thought to be a Barbadian problem has turned out to be a wider Caribbean issue with similar concerns being raised elsewhere.

The obvious source of the difficulty was the need to accommodate to the adverse circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic which no one could have predicted.

To avoid mass sittings, the CXC decided to eliminate Paper 2 of the Examinations and concentrate on the SBA and Multiple Choice components. Paper 2 constitutes the essential core component of the total examination.

In Caribbean History, for example Paper 2 would require the answering of four full essays in an exam setting, with invigilators present and no text books or notes allowed. It provides the best incontestable evidence of scholastic competence in any subject discipline.

The SBA or course work portion is done mostly outside of school, at home or at lessons, for example. Paper 1 or the Short paper comprises Multiple Choice questions, mostly right or wrong, true or false type answers.

These questions are sometimes called ‘hit or miss’ questions. They are not. The good multiple choice question tests comprehension and analytical skills.

In a subject like History, the elimination of Paper 2 was always pedagogically problematic. It is the paper best suited to examine the key cognitive aspects of the discipline. The first aspect is content knowledge.

Another is comprehension and evaluation of the content and the third is the student’s ability to express ideas in a syntax that is correct and understandable in answer to a specific question.

It is amazing how many students are prone to write whatever they know, irrespective of whether it constitutes an answer to the specific question posed.

These are the prime differences between the good and the weak History student and I suspect of most candidates in many other subject areas.

Paper 2 therefore should constitute no less than 60 percent of the marks. Without it any exam is pedagogically questionable.

I have always had a problem with the SBA component.

It is too subject to malfeasance.

Teachers, at schools and private lessons, sometimes made an inordinate input into Students SBA’s so much so that the end product does not reflect the pupil’s own cognitive competence. A UWI teacher once confided that while he supported course work, he was sometimes forced to question exactly whose course work itwas that he was correcting.

Course work should constitute a minimal portion of the assessment, no more than 20 percent for any course.
In the one-unit CAPE, Caribbean and Communication Studies courses, the SBA comprises some 45 percent of the marks.

It is not surprising that it is in these two courses that students seem to seek private tuition.

The Multiple choice paper is also problematic. There is a limit to the number of discerning multiple choice questions one can fashion. Thus many are repeated over time and many I am told, are now on the Internet.

Any “enterprising” candidate can get hold of past papers knowing that he or she might be able to answer correctly about 40 of the 45 questions. It is not surprising that so many CAPE students feel cheated. They were led to believe by teachers, that they wrote a very good SBA and as one student claimed, was able to correctly answer at least 40 of the 45 multiple choice questions. Why then was the grade given this year so low? They ask.

A persistent query asked of CXC is that seeing that Paper 2 was pre-empted, what percentage of the marks would be given to the SBA. CXC’s response to the question has been and remains that the percentage previously given to the SBA stays the same. How is that possible? Shouldn’t the marking for both the SBA and the Multiple choice be proportionately reweighted?

A far more pertinent point raised by the BSTU president was: who corrected the papers this year? Given the absence of Paper 2, this might have been less of a problem concerning the availability of markers.

There still appears to be some doubt as to who moderated the SBA component this year. In at least one subject area, it may not be true that UWI students were called in. Some moderators were experienced and long-serving teachers in the various subject disciplines. Was there in fact a divergence in the standard of marking between practicing teachers and external markers?How could seven candidates out of 15 at one Centre be ‘Ungraded’ when they all did their SBA’s and Multiple choice components?

The Registrar of the Caribbean Examination Council has been less than convincing in answering certain questions. He owes the region an explanation of the issues involved in the 2020 examination. Much of CXC functions have now been computerised. Were there any computer glitches this year? The talk that the results were no worse this year than over the last three years says nothing. The 2020 test without the vital Paper 2 component is not comparable to past years.

CXC was an ambitious project and has been, up to now, a Caribbean success story. It has expanded its ambit exponentially, particularly in relation to the number of subject disciplines it currently examines.

In fact some believe it has overreached itself given the meagreness of its budget. 2020 is an extraordinary year caused by the global pandemic. Other examining bodies have experienced similar or worst difficulties.

Let us find out what went wrong this summer, make the required corrections and proceed on what remains a worthy enterprise. This year’s problems may provide an opportunity for CXC to fully scrutinise all its procedures.

Ralph Jemmott is a respected retired educator.