Exam blundergives studentswrong grades

John Roberts Education Correspondent

AN investigation has been launched into students being given the wrong grades in this summer’s GCSE and A-levels after it emerged that hundreds of exam papers were not properly marked.

The country’s biggest exam board, AQA, had admitted that more than 600 students sitting GCSE, AS and A-levels have been affected by the mistake which meant candidates received lower grades than they should have.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Around 150 A-level students, 290 AS-level students and 190 GCSE students’ work is said to not have been fully marked.

Announcing an inquiry into the mistakes, Isabel Nisbet, the chief executive of the exams regulator Ofqual, warned that it was a “very serious matter”.

She said: “AQA has assured us that they will make sure that the affected candidates are treated fairly and receive the marks their work merits as soon as possible. Once that is done, Ofqual’s inquiry will focus on what went wrong and why it was not spotted sooner.”

AQA said it was working with examiners to mark the affected papers and award the correct mark or grade, and was contacting affected schools. A spokeswoman for the exam board said she could not reveal which schools had been affected.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

AQA chief executive Andrew Hall said: “We are extremely sorry for any distress caused as a result of the original incomplete mark and are reviewing our processes to ensure there is no repeat of this error.”

Related topics: