CXC Examiner May 2012 - Caribbean Examinations Council

The Caribbean ExaminerCXC in the CloudsCSEC Comes of Age!By 1977 all five panels had preparedsample examinations in the required numberof papers (1 and 2 for English) and with theappropriate weightings for the profiles that hadbeen decided for the subjects. These papers wereused in selected schools as a test run in simulatedexamination conditions and they providedCXC with the opportunity to train the teamsof Chief Examiners, Examiners, and AssistantExaminers in the processes of standardisation,implementing the marking schemes, assessingrates of marking as well as all the administrativetasks of managing, circulating and keepingtrack of batches of scripts that were distributedto tables for marking. CXC had already invitedCambridge to visit and they must have been soimpressed with the CXC model that the paperscoming to the region from Cambridge a fewyears later mirrored the structure and format ofthe CXC papers.The numbers sitting the examinationsin the first year, 1979, were relatively smallcompared with the present. The marking of theEnglish ‘A’ examination, both Basic and Generalproficiencies was accommodated on the thirdfloor of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, throughan arrangement negotiated by the enterprisingPro-Registrar. In those early years, some schoolsentered their fourth formers for the Basicexamination as a test run, we supposed, and theperformance at Basic was of a very high qualitycompared with later years when schools becamemuch more selective about the proficiency forwhich they enrolled students.So the lady has grown over the years. Somemay say ‘fat’ facetiously, but I would say, seriously,in both stature and sophistication. Thirty fivesubjects are now offered at CSEC compared withthe five in 1979 and now approximately 210,000candidates take English and Mathematicscompared with a little over 44,000 in ’79. In 1998CXC took a bold step to offer subjects for theCaribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination(CAPE) and today 44 Units in 24 subjects areoffered at that level.The sophistication is evident in the easewith which CXC has embraced informationtechnology and has integrated it into the fabric ofher outfit to improve efficiency of administrativeoperations, manage registrations, examinationsetting and all aspects of business. The websiteis a smorgasbord of links that take one to blogs,historical reviews, subject and people profiles,and clicks to the ever pervasive social media thatwoo students to explore and learn.The organisation has certainly come a longway since the 1970s but the rigorous systems thatwere established then for developing syllabusesand creating exam papers still exist and havegiven currency to a brand that is distinctivelyCaribbean yet globally acknowledged.Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald is a long-servingresource person for CXC. Sheserved on the first English‘A’ Panel and also as ChiefExaminer. She is a memberof the School ExaminationsCommittee and the Sub-Committee of the SchoolExaminations Committee(SUBSEC).www.cxc.org MAY 2012 11