“Impossible” & “diabolical”…there’s been an A-level exam blunder

Emma Finamore
29 Jun 2018

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who completely guessed every answer for question 4,” tweeted one panicking student.

Placeholder — That there had been a similar problem in a Spanish A-level exam in a previous week.

An examination board has apologised to A-level pupils and teachers after a mix-up in recordings made it difficult for candidates to answer questions in Spanish and French exams this June.

People sitting the Eduqas French modern foreign languages exam reported that recordings were out of order, making it more difficult to answer. The exam accounted for 50% of the final mark of the A-level paper.

Students took to social media to vent their anger and confusion after sitting the exam, calling it “impossible” and “diabolical”.

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who completely guessed every answer for question 4,” tweeted one.

Eduqas – part of Welsh examination board WJEC – apologised but said that any students who felt they were affected would have to apply for “special consideration” to adjust their marks.

The paper’s introduction told exam-takers to listen to the second part of a recording in order to answer a particular questions. But the board said candidates also actually needed to re-listen to an earlier part of the recording in order to answer parts of the question.

Students took to social media to vent their anger and confusion after sitting the exam, calling it “impossible” and “diabolical”.

“We appreciate that this error may have affected candidates in yesterday’s examination. A special consideration can be made on behalf of those candidates,” said Elaine Carlile, director of assessment delivery at Eduqas.

The board also admitted that there had been a similar problem in a Spanish A-level exam in a previous week.

“Our examiners and the awarding committee members will be made aware of the situation,” said the board. “Candidate responses will be considered carefully during the marking and awarding processes to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged.”

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