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Electronic Testing

18. The May-June Sitting ran from 5 May to 15 June 2017. This session offered an
expansion of the e-Testing option for Multiple Choice (MC) papers with 30 CSEC® and 32
CAPE® subjects. There was also six CCSLC® Subjects tested in four Territories. Table 3 shows
the distribution of candidates across the territories for the May-June 2017 session.

Table 3: Distribution of E-Testing Candidates

NO. OF TERRITORIES NO. OF SUBJECTS CANDIDATE COUNT
CAPE® 11 32 1,916

CSEC® 7 19 7,827
CCSLC® 4 6 789

19. While there were very positive reports on e-Testing from most territories, a few
reported infrastructural challenges but were still prepared to advance the process. They all
reported improved operational efficiency and security over the paper-based administration.
Marking Operations

20. The marking activity ran later than planned this year. The Mathematics, Sciences and
Technology subjects were generally completed ahead of time having advanced more quickly
from Standardization through to Marking. This session, the perennial long-running English A
and English B were joined by Communication Studies, Caribbean Studies, History and
Literatures in English. The latter four were being marked online for the first time. As questions
in these components were completed, Markers were invited to continue other questions for
which they qualified and were standardized.
21. All SBA samples were submitted electronically for the May-June sitting. Each sample
should have been accompanied by the Teacher’s Cover Pages and mark schemes. This
requirement proved challenging for several Centres and forced resubmissions and reloading
of files in the ORS late into the session.

22. The marking of the moderating paper (P090) in several subjects was delayed due to
issues with transmission of data files from the CXC storage to the RM repository. Issues
included:
I. File naming convention violations.

II. File format violation.

III. Upload to the wrong test code by teachers.

IV. Corrupt data transmissions requiring reloading.
23. The scanning of scripts at the scanning bureau went smoothly. However, at 3 August,

just over 3000 candidates were missing and required follow-up action with Ministries and
Local Registrars prior to the release of results. The efficient marking of English B Paper 2
continued this year with the use of e-Bookmarking; Literatures in English Units 1 and 2, Paper
2 were also included in this process.

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