CAIE gives options to Pakistani students whose exams were cancelled

The Cambridge Assessment International Examination (CAIE) has shared two options for candidates whose exams were cancelled on May 10, 11, and 12 this year.

In the first option, the British Council has requested special consideration from Cambridge for all affected candidates, while the second option will allow candidates to withdraw from and receive a refund for subjects where exams were cancelled if they choose not to utilise the special consideration offered.

According to the CIE, candidates can request to withdraw their entry for subjects in the June 2023 series, excluding those affected by the May 10, 11 and 12 exam cancellations.

If a candidate wishes to withdraw, they must submit a request following Cambridge International's withdrawal policy for 2023, a statement by CIE read. 

It's important to note that once a withdrawal request is made, the candidate cannot later request for the corresponding components to be marked.

Meanwhile, the British Council will handle all withdrawal requests in accordance with the stated policy.

According to the statement, schools and candidates also need to consider paragraph 3.2.10 of the Cambridge Handbook 2023, which says that candidates cannot re-use coursework that has been submitted in a previous exam series. This means that candidates withdrawing their entry in the June 2023 series and re-entering in a later series will need to produce new coursework for their new entry.

However, the CIE has recommended against withdrawal and refund due to the following reasons: For XIC & A2 (the outgoing classes), the schools will not be able to support the students’ examination preparation for the subjects beyond June 2023.

For students who join our BCP programme, it will lead to disruption in the middle of the academic session of the next class level. For example, in the case of Al students taking XIC exams in Oct/Nov 2021. For XC & AS Level exams, opting for withdrawal will lead to disruption in the middle of the academic year of the next class level to take the exam.

For A2 students wishing to withdraw from May/June 2023, their AS grades will not be carried forward and they will have to sit their composite exams in Oct/Nov 2023.

Uzma Yusuf, director of Cambridge Pakistan, told The News that out of the cancelled papers, only two A-level papers, Mathematics and History, will be retaken on June 21, while the remaining papers will be graded on the basis of average.