CXC cracks down on exam cheating as irregularities jump

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is sounding the alarm over a sharp rise in examination irregularities, with cases jumping from 80 last year to 128 in 2026 — including a new concern involving the misuse of artificial intelligence.

CXC Director of Operations Dr Nicole Manning said the regional examining body recorded 128 cases of examination misconduct across the Caribbean this year.

The biggest violations involved unauthorised devices, collusion and unauthorised materials, while the council also flagged AI misuse as a new and growing problem.

“The top three issues this year were the use of unauthorised devices, collusion, and use of unauthorised material, and, the new one for us, artificial intelligence misuse,” Manning said.

She described the increase as troubling, warning that students found guilty of examination irregularities could have their grades cancelled or be disqualified.

“This year we saw a whopping 128 such cases, moving from 80 last year. This is not something the CXC likes to see, because candidates who commit any of those irregularities have their grades either cancelled or they are disqualified,” she said.

The sharpest increase was recorded among CSEC candidates, with 106 cases reported this year compared with 57 in 2025.

At the CAPE level, there were 22 cases, slightly down from 23 last year.

Manning said some cases involved repeated misconduct, with the same types of irregularities occurring across different examinations and, in some instances, involving the same students.

The emergence of AI misuse has added another layer to CXC's concerns as schools and examining bodies across the region grapple with the growing use of generative AI by students.

But amid the crackdown on misconduct, CXC also provided special consideration to hundreds of students who faced serious circumstances beyond their control during the examination period.

A total of 359 candidates were granted compassionate consideration because of circumstances including medical challenges and deaths in their families.

Of that number, 71 were CAPE candidates and 288 were CSEC candidates.

The figure represents a decline from last year, when 72 CAPE and 377 CSEC candidates received compassionate consideration.

“That means that these candidates were not disadvantaged in any way even though they would have experienced some sort of issue in their lives. We are helping them to continue,” Manning said.

CXC also activated its disaster recovery protocol to assist Jamaican students whose schooling and examination preparations were disrupted by Hurricane Melissa last year.

Approximately half of Jamaica's examination centres were affected by the hurricane and selected centres used a modified approach to facilitate the examinations.

“The CXC, through our disaster recovery protocol, was able to work with Jamaica to ensure that these candidates were not left behind,” Manning said.

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