more cape exam papers leaked

[jpf]

dis happening again.. i remember when my bro had to do over his Spanish orals a few years ago... now my sis might have to do over her exams too..i hope it doesnt happen with my UOL (university of london) exams doh.. then again i cant remember it happening with GCE.. so is only CXC to blame? and now, unlike years ago, with d Internet anyone could email a copy of it across d caribbean so d whole caribbean might have to do it over

and $5000? where d hell a CAPE student getting dat from? had to be parents involved?

Trinidad Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161320608


EXAM PAPERS FOR SALE
Leaked CAPE test going for $5,000



FOR $5,000 students could have purchased the Caribbean Examinations Council Advanced Proficiency Communication Studies paper which was leaked in Trinidad at least a day before the exams were held.

The Express got a copy of the paper around 1 p.m. yesterday, an hour after the test started for CAPE students throughout the Caribbean.

But the completely reliable source who provided the paper said he, himself, had received it around 10 a.m., two hours before the start of the exam.

This copy of the exam paper was later compared with the original at the end of the two-and-a-half-hour long exam-they were exactly the same.

The exam was made up of three modules with one question in each section carrying a total of 75 marks.

Several copies were sold to students in the North and in the South with the source lamenting that that put poor students at a disadvantage since it was only those with money who could afford the going prices.

The Ministry of Education was told about the leak around 11 a.m. but could not stop the exams from going ahead as a directive to this effect that can only come from the Caribbean Examinations Council Board in Barbados, which is responsible for setting both the CXC and CAPE examinations.

Advanced level exams started this week for most schools and officials are concerned that more examination papers, including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, History and English might also be prematurely in people's hands.

It is not the first time that an exam paper has been leaked.

In 2005, ordinary level Mathematics and English A papers were leaked in Guyana and the sitting of the exams were rescheduled for pupils in that country.

In the late 1990s the Spanish orals had to be re-done in Trinidad after it was found out that some pupils had access to the paper before the exams.

Last year there were also allegations of a leak in Jamaica.

Schools are not informed when exam papers leave Barbados nor when they arrive here. Yesterday one school principal in the Port of Spain area said he was shocked that the paper was leaked as he knew for sure that both the Ministry and the CXC board "do their best to preserve the integrity of the paper."

The principal said the people responsible should face "serious consequences" adding that selling the paper before the exam was "foolish".

He said he was concerned about the trauma students would have to face if it is decided that the paper has to be re-written.

Several students also shared the same concern.

"I just write the exam. I not doing it over because is too much stress. I did not see it before and it should not matter to me," Matthew Wyat, a Queen's Royal College sixth former, said.

"Whoever they find cheating let them do it over. I study hard, I ain't see the paper before. I should not have to pay," another student said.

[serenity]

Real nonsense.
And u are right jpf, its the parents unless 50 kids put up $100. each and bought one copy.
To me rumours of this nature come aroundevery year.
I wonder if the relevant authorities ever conducted a thorough investigation?
And its so unnec! If u do enough past papers u'll know exactly what coming.

[trinianouk]

Dat jus wrong dred...

The children is de ones getting hurt in the end.

[jpf]

is more serious this time! they might have 2 cancel all d exams and for d whole caribbean!!

and in an Internet age a leak in one country compromizes all countries doing the exam since a simple email attachment wit d exam could be forwarded all over.. i hope all who involved in this either get stiff fines or make some serious jail time... from d person who leak it, tuh who profiting from it to d parents who payin they $5000

of course assuming someone did leak it.. its also possiple that if its on a computer at CXC it may have gotten hacked

of course i hope their is a specific law to deal wit it at all stages.. this thing too serious.. imagine people in dis country getting in to uwi or some other university and getting degrees they doh deserve and the qualifying for high paying jobs, all because they get their hands on a leaked paper while honest students cant get anything


and my sis doin it dis year so she wont be to happy about it

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161321629

More CAPE TESTS on sale
Buyers getting Physics, Chemistry, Biology papers via e-mail
Reporting by Jensen LaVende

Sunday, May 11th 2008



THREE more CAPE examination papers have been leaked.

News that papers for exams this week - Physics, Chemistry and Biology- were being made available to students writing the exams for a $5,000 fee- surfaced as the Ministry of Education published a statement saying that it has received no further reports of leaked papers following last week's security breach with the Communication Studies Paper 11. (See statement on Page 62)

Sources told the Sunday Express that for $5,000 - the same amount paid for the Communication Studies paper - students could get the exam papers for this week's science exams, and that they would be made available, via e-mail, the night before the exam to the buyers.

A Sunday Express investigation uncovered a south location where negotiations for the papers are conducted. New recruits to the operation - students now discovering that CAPE exam papers could be bought for $5,000 and who want to make use of this facility - are asked to provide the operators with the name and contact information of a student or person who has bought test papers before. This information is checked and verified before any futher discussions take place that would entail the exam paper being e-mailed to the buyer.

One source said the test papers being sold were the last draft of the exam paper, the draft that would have been sent for proofreading before being printed for distribution, under heavy security, throughout the Caribbean.

This would suggest that the leak is happening in Barbados. This draft is only available in Barbados where this final process takes place, the source added.

One source, after being told that the Ministry in its statement said that no other reports of leaks or any other paper has been received, said that the information was coming from the same channels as did reports of leaks of the Communication Studies paper. The source pointed out also that some three weeks before the exam last Thursday, there were reports surfacing that the Communication Studies paper was available to students.

Asked to comment on the consequences of these breaches for the integrity of the exams, some school officials suggested that the Ministry of Education explore the option of using an existing alternative test paper for next week's exams. Education personnel explained that two exam papers for a subject are prepared every year in the event that something goes awry with the one planned for distribution to students.

One senior educator said that the Ministry should treat the reports that the integrity of the Physics, Chemistry and Biology exams have been breached, and allow students writing the exams next week to do the alternative paper.

The educator also said the Ministry needed to treat with this situation seriously and urgently since these developments were taking away from the good name of the Caribbean Examination Council and the exams. The educator decribed the current developments as a "crime against the whole Caribbean" in that CXE and its exams are recognised internationally and that this situation could lead to a loss of confidence in the examining body.

In its statement, the Ministry of Education, while admitting that the Communication Studies exam paper was compromised, said only CXCcan say whether the students should re-write the exam.

The Ministry said an internal investigation is underway and that all security arrangements associated with the distribution and delivery of CAPE and CSEC examinations currently underway have been reviewed and upgraded.

The Ministry also warned that breaches of examination procedure may result in disqualification from all examinations for a period of five years.

Adults involved in such criminal activity are subject to prosecution by the authorities, the statement added.

- Reporting by Jensen LaVende

[discipuli]

Leaks have been going on for years , the ministry's move to postpone exams and make everyone re-sit Communication studies is just an attempt to save face.

And the big drama over communication studies is nonsense : UWI doesn't look at Comm studies marks for admissions criteria , it only matters if you are trying to get an island schol or go abroad to study.
And the subject is nicknamed 'Common Sense' by us students , because it involves just using more complex words to describe things that go on in everday life . Many students don't study for it and get ones.

[Solachica]

Even at uwi I believe tht some students have access to papers. Especially the multiple choice sections for midterms and finals.

At a school I went to I believed tht 2 guys in our class were given question papers before the exams. Sometimes while talking it wud slip them and they wud say a question tht eventually came.

[Beetle]

when a bunch of banana republics come together to reinvent the wheel and create their own exam system, what you expect to happen ?

This should'nt be a surpise to realistic person.

[sylvestter]

when a bunch of banana republics come together to reinvent the wheel and create their own exam system, what you expect to happen ?yep. quite shameful that exams have been 'postponed until further notice'.

[discipuli]

I'v always said we were the guinea pig generation... my year was first to do SEA , among the first to do CAPE , and now the first to suffer this disgrace.

[serenity]

I'd be traumatised if I was one of the students.
All now I done have meh cramming timetable, meh body sleep-deprived and on edge and u talking about postponed until...?
I woulda have a breakdown.
My sis just thinks she has more time to plan the 'after exam cool down' limes. :roll:

Me and she, chalk and cheese.

[sylvestter]

can you imagine having to RE-SIT an exam they wrote last week?

serenity, imagine if we had to re-sit one of them exams we was cramming for 2 years ago... we woulda dead!

[serenity]

can you imagine having to RE-SIT an exam they wrote last week?

serenity, imagine if we had to re-sit one of them exams we was cramming for 2 years ago... we woulda dead!

Dais exactly what ah saying.
I would have been traumatised.

But if I can remem way back to A levels, I was a cool cucumber.
I remem watching basketball finals or playoffs or something the night before meh history exam (ah had REAL like the Utah JAzz) ...and then wake up early early for meh friend to read out dates and events for me to memorise.

And ah cram meh geography topics the night before the exam.

I wasnt anal about exams until second year of the degree programme...

[Silky]

if it was GCE, it never woulda happen.

I only teach CAPE applied maths to 7 students.

I can only speak for maths, if u look at an applied maths paper, the discrete maths section - they making d chirren do things I did in 1st year university maths.

I think CAPE is substandard and it will take a good number of years before it can be internationally recognized.

[Huma]

if it was GCE, it never woulda happen.

It never happened. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/111165.stm)


A teacher who allegedly leaked a history GCSE exam could be sued by the examinations board that set the paper.

The Council for the Curriculum, Examination and Assessment in Northern Ireland said it had traced the "breach in confidentiality" to a man it contracted to set questions for the exam.

The board disclosed in a statement that it had sacked him and was considering taking legal action to recover the costs of rescheduling the paper.

Postponed

The second part of the GCSE history examination was to have been taken by 6,000 students on Thursday.

However, it was reset and postponed until the following Tuesday after the council learned that questions from the first paper had been leaked.

Happened with Edexcel in London more recently. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1389181.stm)


CAPE is a relatively new system. Mistakes will happen in the infancy of new systems. The important thing is that the board learns from the mistake and improves the system appropriately.

Then again, everything we have, do and are...is inferior.

[Beetle]

In the Caribbean, we are more comfortable with mediocracy and very intimadated by quality & perfection. We make excuses for failure at the drop of a hat and we take constructive critcism personally - we basically end up looking like a bunch of 'never see come see' banana republic wannabe jokers.

We did away with GCE for all the wrong reasons, but its too late now, we're stuck with it, so sit back and let the excuse making begin.

[Huma]

In the Caribbean, we are more comfortable with mediocracy and very intimadated by quality & perfection. We make excuses for failure at the drop of a hat and we take constructive critcism personally - we basically end up looking like a bunch of 'never see come see' banana republic wannabe jokers.


Who is this "we" you're talking about? You and your crew?

Because I know Caribbean people who strive for excellence in everything they do.

[snowbird]

In the Caribbean, we are more comfortable with mediocracy and very intimadated by quality & perfection. We make excuses for failure at the drop of a hat and we take constructive critcism personally - we basically end up looking like a bunch of 'never see come see' banana republic wannabe jokers.


Who is this "we" you're talking about? You and your crew?

Because I know Caribbean people who strive for excellence in everything they do.


:lol: :lol: :lol:

[dancerboy]

if it was GCE, it never woulda happen.

It never happened. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/111165.stm)


A teacher who allegedly leaked a history GCSE exam could be sued by the examinations board that set the paper.

The Council for the Curriculum, Examination and Assessment in Northern Ireland said it had traced the "breach in confidentiality" to a man it contracted to set questions for the exam.

The board disclosed in a statement that it had sacked him and was considering taking legal action to recover the costs of rescheduling the paper.

Postponed

The second part of the GCSE history examination was to have been taken by 6,000 students on Thursday.

However, it was reset and postponed until the following Tuesday after the council learned that questions from the first paper had been leaked.

Happened with Edexcel in London more recently. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1389181.stm)


CAPE is a relatively new system. Mistakes will happen in the infancy of new systems. The important thing is that the board learns from the mistake and improves the system appropriately.

Then again, everything we have, do and are...is inferior. This is great coming from a teacher, it happen ahready, so no big thing.

DANCERBOY

[dancerboy]

if it was GCE, it never woulda happen.

I only teach CAPE applied maths to 7 students.

I can only speak for maths, if u look at an applied maths paper, the discrete maths section - they making d chirren do things I did in 1st year university maths.

I think CAPE is substandard and it will take a good number of years before it can be internationally recognized.
This is a likkle more 'circumspeck' than the post from de udder educated teacher,who has no sense ah huma.

DANCERBOY

[dancerboy]

In the Caribbean, we are more comfortable with mediocracy and very intimadated by quality & perfection. We make excuses for failure at the drop of a hat and we take constructive critcism personally - we basically end up looking like a bunch of 'never see come see' banana republic wannabe jokers.

We did away with GCE for all the wrong reasons, but its too late now, we're stuck with it, so sit back and let the excuse making begin.
AMEN HALLELUJAH.

DANCERBOY

[Falcon]

In the Caribbean, we are more comfortable with mediocracy and very intimadated by quality & perfection. We make excuses for failure at the drop of a hat and we take constructive critcism personally - we basically end up looking like a bunch of 'never see come see' banana republic wannabe jokers.


Who is this "we" you're talking about? You and your crew?

Because I know Caribbean people who strive for excellence in everything they do.


:lol: :lol: :lol:
Waaaaaaaa!!!!! Hahahaha...

well look at that!

I can never understand why we'd remove an internationally recognised exam with an upstart one, and then claim we are trying to compete on a global scale? A scheme by Caribbean governments to reduce the brain drain? Already the degree programs of the university carry less weight than they did before. Now we take it one step back, to the pre-matriculation.

Very soon Caribbean CVs will be greek to someone in the developed world. And I guess the insular (among us) will rejoice.

[snowbird]

Who is this "we" you're talking about? You and your crew?

Because I know Caribbean people who strive for excellence in everything they do.


:lol: :lol: :lol:[/quote]
Waaaaaaaa!!!!! Hahahaha...

well look at that! [/quote]

:lol: Sorry Falcon; I know that little ditty added absolutely nothing to the discussion, it is just that some Members are so predictable, once I saw that bait dangling, I could just picture the 'open jaws' :lol: :lol:

[Solachica]

Did I hear correctly? A cape student killed themself becos of the cancelled exams? :?

[discipuli]

according to the tv6 news martin joseph , a 19 year old toco student , commited suicide due to exam stress.

Maybe now they will fix the broken system.

[CoolGuy]

The student was doing the CAPE exams. We don't know what was the immediate cause of the suicide. Could be anything like being 'dumped' or something like that.

I do think we need to give CAPE a chance. Like someone stated this is something that happens with other exams like GCE.

This is an important step towards improving the examination I believe. I do find that they could have could provide the revised timetable in a timelier manner.

[Falcon]

The abuse first began with Joseph's mother telling photographers to take a picture of "real criminals" and leave the youngsters alone.
from here: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl ... =161360131 (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161360131)

I just love to listen to lazy-rass parents who encourage their kids in slackness, and never let them face any kind of music.

This brawling woman and her crazed, violent husband need to wake up and realise that their kid IS a criminal too!

Bring back public beatings............for heavens sake. :roll:

[Falcon]

Joseph and Toney told their parents they were sorry “for the embarrassment to them and their families.”

then......Guardian today say


The teens ran out of the probation officer’s office and hid behind a pillar of the complex.

One of the convicted students tried to slap the photographers and held the camera of Express photographer Jermaine Cruickshank, breaking a cellphone in the process.
One relative jumped in his blue half-tonne truck and nearly ran over Newsday reporter Indarjit Seuraj.

“Do something now. I have a picture of your girl.”

I love it!!!!! :D