Printing errors in GCSE maths papers force apology from AQA while further mistakes are under investigation by exams watchdog
One of England's biggest exam boards has been forced to apologise after GCSE students were set a paper containing questions from an old exam, the latest in a series of mistakes to affect pupils this summer.
Due to a printing error the maths paper, set by the AQA exam board, included questions originally answered by pupils taking the same exam in March.
Over 31,000 pupils at 567 schools and colleges took the paper on Tuesday morning.
Two other new errors in exam papers have also been discovered, in a GCSE Latin paper and a physics A-level exam, both set by the OCR exam board.
The Latin GCSE paper, taken by up to 8,000 students at 540 schools and colleges, contained incorrect names of writers and characters.
The physics A-level paper contained a measurement given in both centimetres and metres, when it should have been in metres only. Almost 8,000 students at 661 schools and colleges sat the exam.
An OCR spokesman said: "We deeply regret these errors. We are extremely angry, because this is not fair on students, parents and teachers."
He added: "It is not acceptable, and if we find that someone has not done their job, they will lose their job."
AQA, which sets 49% of GCSE exams, said some schools received the correct maths paper, while others received the "problem" paper, which had new questions at the beginning and end, but old ones in the middle. Some schools were sent a combination of correct and flawed exam papers.
The exams regulator, Ofqual, has confirmed it is already investigating six errors ? five in AS-level papers and one in a GCSE.
AQA said it was very sorry that its maths paper "caused some students distress" .
"We have told schools that students should attempt the paper as it is and we will consider the most appropriate action to protect students' interests, when we have a full understanding of the extent of the problem," an AQA spokeswoman said.
"The batches of papers that we checked as part of our quality assurance process are all fine and we are in the process of investigating with our printers how this problem has arisen."
In one of the previous exam board blunders, all the answers to a multiple-choice question in a biology AS-level paper set by Edexcel were wrong.
The question was worth one mark out of a possible 425. The board has promised that markers will adjust scores to ensure no candidate is disadvantaged.
A business studies AS-level paper set by AQA left out crucial information, meaning one question, worth three marks, could not be answered. It asked students to calculate the profits a fictional chocolate company was making, but failed to include all the information required.
The OCR board included an "impossible" question in a maths AS exam. Students were asked to solve an equation but were not given the information needed to do so.
In a statement issued last week, Ofqual's chief executive, Glenys Stacey, said exam boards had carried out additional checks on their papers.
She said: "Students who have sat one of the question papers that included a mistake can be assured that the awarding organisations have procedures in place to make sure that so far as possible, no candidate is disadvantaged.
"The measures taken will depend on the exact circumstances. Ofqual has asked the awarding organisations for detailed information on the actions they have taken already and will be taking during the awarding process."
Ofqual warns against comparisons with previous years, as it says changes in reporting arrangements may mean mistakes made in the past were not recorded by the regulator.
But there appears to be a spike in exam-related problems this year. No incidents of errors in setting exams were reported last year, or in the 2009 season.
In 2008 there were three incidents ? two in GCSE papers and one in A-levels ? according to figures kept by Ofqual. One flawed A-level paper was reported in 2007 and one GCSE paper with a mistake in 2006.
The NUS has called for an inquiry into this year's exam season and said affected students should be given the option of resits.
There are around 5,000 exam papers scheduled this summer for GCSE, AS and A-level candidates in England.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jun/21/gcse-paper-mistakes-exam-board-apologises
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