CXC creating electronic testing platform | Quicker results promised

By Kamal Haynes, BVI News Staff

Local students who plan to enrol in United States colleges are being promised a quicker timeline to receive their Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exam results now that the regional body is creating an Electronic testing platform for students. 

This announcement was made by Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley at the St George’s Secondary School in Palestina Estate, on Wednesday.

“Going forward, one of the exciting things about how we will be offering the exams – the BVI is already taking full advantage of that opportunity – is electronic testing, an on-demand testing that we are going to be creating, but we are building that infrastructure now,” Dr Wesley stated.

He added: “We have to build a large enough database for electronic testing so we can electronically generate an examination quickly for somebody to take, and the results are almost ready within a couple of months after that.”

CXC results release dates causing students to miss out on US colleges

Dr Wesley made the announcement while responding to concerns from one local parent who said the dates that CXC results are released are out of sync with the deadlines set by US colleges for submission of applications.

“I am speaking from a BVI audience,” the mother of two said. “I find that the results come out too late. For instance, my daughter who is now in college missed a $17,000 a year scholarship because the results were not out until August.”

“Most American schools need to have some sort of grades by at least April, May. So this is [also] going to affect my second daughter. She’s taking her CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) because she has to. But it is not going to help her with anything because by the time she gets her results, she will already be in school,” she explained.

January Exam an option

Dr Wesley then recommended CXC’s January examination date for those students who intend to study in the US, since those results return way ahead of the US colleges’ deadlines.

He said: “There are two sittings every year — the bulk though is really in May. If it is that you are looking at the US market and you perhaps want the results early, then you might want to think about the January sitting and whether or not all of the subject that are critical for the decisions are offered.”

“About 13 subjects are offered, so you might find the ones that you want to do which would be offered and you’d have those results by February,” Dr Wesley added.

May/June exams align with most regional tertiary institutions

He also said the May examination timeline will not be changed considering that it serves most regional universities and institutes which usually begin their semester in September.