Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) uses Surpass custom question types to solve assessment needs

BTL Group Ltd. is delighted to announce that the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®), the premier assessment board across the Caribbean region, has selected the Surpass assessment platform to digitally transform its end-to-end examinations process as part of its commitment to shape the future of education and assessment within the region. CXC® oversees assessments in schools across 21 Caribbean countries, often contending with the challenges of paper exam distribution and marking across a wide area, and subject to natural disasters like hurricanes.

To mitigate against these challenges, alongside concerns about the stability or lack of internet connections in some countries for online examinations, CXC® turned to Surpass.

The Surpass assessment platform, created by BTL, allows candidates to take an on-screen test in an entirely offline environment with swift response uploads, addressing concerns about the stability of internet connections for online examinations. This reduces reliance on printing and can be more efficient in turnaround time for marking and reporting results.

In addition to working together to bring thousands of current exams on-screen, BTL has been working in collaboration with CXC® to develop a new Custom Question Type (CQT) Framework. This allows Awarding Organisations to develop new, advanced question types or simulations that are specific to their needs. In CXC’s case, their Custom Question Types allowed for the assessment of the critical skills of manipulating graphs and developing scales, whilst maintaining an intuitive experience for younger candidates or those with lower technical proficiency.

Following the implementation of Surpass, CXC® has been growing its e-Assessments and with the Surpass Implementation, is planning to double its offerings in the coming years. CXC’s overall ambition is to move all their exams onscreen within three to five years.

Rodney Payne, Director, Technological Innovation at CXC®:

“CXC® is mindful of the changing educational landscape which requires a strong technological focus on the digital transformation of teaching, learning and assessment. We are excited to be working with the team from BTL Surpass, who are helping us to move our paper-based exams to on-screen delivery.”

The Surpass Platform is a fully integrated end-to-end solution (from item creation to delivery and marking onscreen), able to deliver offline or in areas of unreliable internet connectivity. This combined with a commitment to continuous investment and enhancement into products, futureproofs the approach. CXC® recognised the significant benefits in adopting an item authoring and reviewing platform that provides increased security and quality assurance capabilities, a test driver application that supports fully offline testing for areas with intermittent or no internet connectivity, and a fully integrated end-to-end platform that does not require the exporting and importing of items and tests from one application to another.