The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has announced a shift in the dates for this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

The exams will now be held from May 23 to July; they were initially slated to be held from April to June but due the effects of the pandemic on the region’s education system, the dates were shifted by approximately three weeks.

According to CXC’s Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Wayne Wesley, the decision to shift the exam dates was made during a special meeting with education ministries in the region earlier on Wednesday.

“After careful deliberation, and consideration of all the pertinent issue, [the] council agrees that…a delay in the setting of the regional examinations by three weeks; this will provide candidates with additional time to prepare for the examinations. Therefore, examinations will commence on Monday, the 23rd of May 2022.” Dr Wesley revealed.

The exam results are expected to be released in late August or early September.

“The details will be determined and communicated accordingly,” Dr Wesley said.

Meanwhile, a further two-week extension for the submission of school-based assessment (SBAs) was also announced.

Candidates will also be given a list of broad topics to be assessed on paper two of the exam.

A total of 105, 078 CSEC candidates have registered to the write the exams this year while 25, 429 have registered to write CAPE.

The option to write the exam online is also available. All multiple-choice exams or paper one can be written online while only 70 per cent of paper two is done online.