NewsEducationExams: ‘Infuriating’ mistakes in GCSE and A levels see students wrongly told to ignore topics

‘The worry and stress this has caused is the last thing these young people need,’ education union leader says

Zoe TidmanTuesday 21 June 2022 00:23Comments Article bookmarked

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Don't show me this message again✕

Students have seen topics come up on exams they were not expecting this year

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Students have experienced “infuriating” and “unacceptable” mistakes to GCSE and A-levels this year, headteachers have said after a series of errors - including pupils being given wrong information about what would be on exams.

This year’s cohort has been told what topics to revise and ignore for the first time in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid pandemic.

But this has backfired at times, with pupils opening papers to find questions on topics they had been told to avoid.

Other blunders have included missing pages and an African country labelled incorrectly on a map.

The National Union of Students (NUS) told The Independent this year’s mistakes were “absolutely unacceptable”.

“With the cost of living crisis biting, students are already dealing with enough,” its UK president, Larissa Kennedy, and its Welsh president, Becky Ricketts, said in a joint statement.

“No student should be penalised for the incompetence of examination boards; the situation needs to be urgently reviewed, with student experiences central to this process.”

Recommended

• Pupils told to have ‘plan B’ for getting to school for exams amid rail strikes
• Exam boards criticised by Ofqual for pupil ‘distress’ over mistakes
• Schools giving exam students free breakfasts to help those struggling with cost of living crisis

Geoff Barton from the Association of School and College Leaders said the errors were “extremely frustrating”, especially as they concerned students who had experienced “severe educational disruption” due to Covid.

“The worry and stress this has caused is the last thing these young people need after all they have been through,” he said.

“It is particularly frustrating that some of the issues were to do with confusion over advanced information, a mitigation which was meant to make exams fairer because of the impact of the pandemic.”

Exam board AQA has apologised twice during this summer exam season. A GCSE Physics paper asked pupils about a topic not listed as being assessed, while an A-level Law exam had a 30-mark question on an area not listed as a major focus.

(function({ document }) { var script = document.createElement('script'); script.defer = 'true'; script.onload = function () { pixelsInsert && pixelsInsert('playinc-article-component-10').setup({ customparams: 'article%3D2104881%26gs_channels%3Desi_safe%2Csafe_from_essence_blacklist%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_ttd_uk_blocklist_mar21%2Cgs_education%2Cgs_education_misc%2Csafe_from_emirates_blacklist%2Cgv_safe_adult%2Cgv_safe_arms%2Cgv_safe_crime%2Cgv_safe_death_injury%2Cgv_safe_download%2Cgv_safe_drugs%2Cgv_safe_hatespeech%2Cgv_safe_military%2Cgv_safe_obscenity%2Cgv_safe_terrorism%2Cgv_safe_tobacco%2Cpos_amazon_carnival_row_04%2Cpos_amex_2020%2Cpos_amex_blocklist_sep21%2Cpos_animal_cruelty%2Cpos_bp%2Cpos_burberry%2Cpos_cartier1_usa%2Cpos_cartier2_usa%2Cpos_cartier3_usa%2Cpos_cartier4_usa%2Cpos_cartier5_usa%2Cpos_castrol_nov20%2Cpos_churchs%2Cpos_cisco_hybrid_work_uk_q2%2Cpos_collective_december2020%2Cpos_collective_ukrainerussia%2Cpos_covid19_leicester%2Cpos_creedfragrance_ladiesfragrance%2Cpos_equinor%2Cpos_facebook%2Cpos_facebook_oct20%2Cpos_facebook_policy_affairs%2Cpos_givenchy_kenny%2Cpos_heinz_blacklist_jul21_01%2Cpos_hsbc_oct20%2Cpos_inskin_safe%2Cpos_intel_evo_vpro_lob_q2%2Cpos_inteluklobq1%2Cpos_jp_morgan_global_growth_income_h1%2Cpos_justpremium_cheltenham%2Cpos_keyword_blacklist_microsoft%2Cpos_lg_aug20%2Cpos_loewe_pre_collection%2Cpos_loopme_negkeywords_2020%2Cpos_lvmh%2Cpos_mfk%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_01%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_02%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_03%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_04%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_05%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_06%2Cpos_microsoft_kwlist_jul21_07%2Cpos_mobkoi-miu-miu_leathergoods%2Cpos_o2_havas_jan21%2Cpos_philip_morris%2Cpos_philip_morris_1%2Cpos_philip_morris_10%2Cpos_philip_morris_11%2Cpos_philip_morris_12%2Cpos_philip_morris_13%2Cpos_philip_morris_14%2Cpos_philip_morris_15%2Cpos_philip_morris_16%2Cpos_philip_morris_17%2Cpos_philip_morris_18%2Cpos_philip_morris_19%2Cpos_philip_morris_2%2Cpos_philip_morris_3%2Cpos_philip_morris_4%2Cpos_philip_morris_5%2Cpos_philip_morris_6%2Cpos_philip_morris_7%2Cpos_philip_morris_8%2Cpos_philip_morris_9%2Cpos_rezonence_avanti%2Cpos_sabic%2Cpos_sabic_mobkoi%2Cpos_saudiaramco_nov20%2Cpos_society_lgbt%2Cpos_sukin_jan21%2Cpos_terrorism_blacklist%2Cpos_tesco_groupm_gps_nov20%2Cpos_test%2Cpos_tiffany_brand_expo_2022%2Cpos_tourismireland%2Cpos_uber%2Cpos_ukraine_war%2Cpos_valentino%2Cpos_vw_seat_ias_kw_list_jan21%2Cpos_workhuman%2Cpos_zenithdefyskyline%2Csafe_from_aegis_blacklist%2Csafe_from_facebook_blacklist%2Csafe_from_mobkoi_facebook_keyword%2Cgt_negative%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_worldwildlifefund_november20%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_diageo_nov20%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_audi_oct20%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_vw_audi_ias_kw_list_jan21%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_loop_me%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_t10_tanqueray%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_tanqueray_4000kw%2Cneg_fresh8%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_hoopla_next_mar21%2Cshadow9hu7_safe_from_asda%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_vw_2020%2Cgs_education_university%2Cgt_negative_fear%2Cgs_politics%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_vw_porsche_ias_kw_list_jan21%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_vw_skoda_ias_kw_list_jan21%2Cskyonecurfew_block%2Cgs_politics_misc%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_philip_morris_20%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_intel_feb21%2Cshadow9hu7_pos_vw_vwcv_man_vwfs_ias_kw_list_jan21%2Cgv_safe%26topictags%3Dgcse%2Cexams%2Ca-levels%2Cs_news%2Cs_education', dunit: '71347885/_main_independent/in_news/in_education/video/article_hub', path: '/news/education/alevel-gcse-exam-mistakes-unions-b2104881.html', mediaid: '', title: 'Exams%3A%20%E2%80%98Infuriating%E2%80%99%20mistakes%20in%20GCSE%20and%20A%20levels%20see%20students%20wrongly%20told%20to%20ignore%20topics', text: '%E2%80%98The%20worry%20and%20stress%20this%20has%20caused%20is%20the%20last%20thing%20these%20young%20people%20need%2C%E2%80%99%20education%20union%20leader%20says%20', tags: 'gcse,exams,a-levels,s_news,s_education', domain: 'independent', version: '5', }); }; script.src = 'https://pub.pixels.ai/insert-lib.js'; document.head.appendChild(script); })(window);

“The problems with advance information have been infuriating,” Jonathan Mountstevens, a deputy headteacher in Hertfordshire, told The Independent.

He said the response over GCSE Physics was to give students full marks for the question, but he felt this undermined the purpose of an exam. “Students lost the opportunity they should have had to shine on this question.”

The deputy headteacher added: “Not only have the errors had a detrimental effect on students taking the exams in question, but they have had a wider impact on students’ confidence in the process, causing an increase in their anxiety levels.”

Students reported similar feelings after finding four pages with Shakespeare extracts missing in a Welsh A-level exam.

Recommended

• Michelle Donelan decries long ‘obsession’ with pupils going to university
• School system is ‘failing’ on multiple fronts – report
• Schools in education ‘cold spots’ less likely to recruit science teachers

Some told The Independent they were “thrown off” and “upset” by the blunder, which saw them work on other questions while waiting for invigilators to sort it ou.t

Kira Humphreys told The Independent this was her first exam of the year. She had a Maths later that day she had previously been feeling confident for.

But she said: “I went into the Maths exam with very little confidence after my experience in the English exam.”

There were also problems with the other exam, with some topics unexpectedly included and others left out that they had been told to expect, she said.

“Overall I think WJEC [the Welsh exam board] have been completely unfair on the students this year, especially considering we have not sat any real exams,” the 18-year-old said.

Another exam board, Edexcel, was forced to apologise over an error in its GCSE geography paper which incorrectly labelled Gabon as the Democratic Republic of Congo on a map of Africa.

Recommended

• Childline increases counselling sessions over exam anxiety
• Covid study aids for GCSEs scrapped for 2023
• Heads warn of invigilator shortage for GCSE and A-level exams

Sarah Hannafin from the NAHT union for school leaders said: “This continues to be a very challenging exam series for students, many of whom have not taken external exams before.”

“The errors which have occurred may have damaged the confidence of students for their remaining exams, particularly those students who have sat the papers where advance information and the questions did not match up.”

The senior policy advisor added: “We take some reassurance that the exam boards will take action to ensure no student is disadvantaged by these errors, but it would have been best for them not to occur in the first place.”

Munira Wilson, the education spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “This is a cohort of students who have had more disruption to their education than any other in peacetime history.

“This carelessness will pull their grades down and make a mockery of the effort young people have put in.”

The head of Ofqual, the exam regulator in England, criticised exam boards last week for oversights leading to mistakes.

A WJEC spokesperson said the exam board was “sorry” for a “collation error” that led to missing pages in the English exam, but no other “significant errors” had occurred this summer and all questions had been from subject content.

An AQA spokesperson apologised for “any confusion or stress” the exam board had caused students.

“We’re awarding all students full marks for the GCSE Physics question, and in A-level Law we’ll look at how students performed on the paper and take any action necessary to protect them,” they said.

A spokesperson for EdExcel’s owner Pearson apologised for “any confusion caused by the unintentional error” in its GCSE Geography map of Africa.

They added: “This labelling does not affect students’ ability to answer the question and we will award marks for references to either country.”

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

EmailPlease enter a valid emailPlease enter a valid emailPasswordMust be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a numberMust be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a numberMust be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a numberFirst namePlease enter your first nameSpecial characters aren’t allowedPlease enter a name between 1 and 40 charactersLast namePlease enter your last nameSpecial characters aren’t allowedPlease enter a name between 1 and 40 charactersSelect your year of birth2004200320022001200019991998199719961995199419931992199119901989198819871986198519841983198219811980197919781977197619751974197319721971197019691968196719661965196419631962196119601959195819571956195519541953195219511950194919481947194619451944194319421941194019391938193719361935193419331932193119301929192819271926192519241923192219211920191919181917191619151914You must be over 18 years old to registerYou must be over 18 years old to registerYear of birthI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. 
Read our Privacy noticeOpt-out-policyYou can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe.

{{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}

Create my account

By clicking ‘Create my account’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

RegisterI'll try later

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

registerEmailPlease enter a valid emailPlease enter a valid emailPasswordMust be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a numberMust be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a numberMust be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a numberFirst namePlease enter your first nameSpecial characters aren’t allowedPlease enter a name between 1 and 40 charactersLast namePlease enter your last nameSpecial characters aren’t allowedPlease enter a name between 1 and 40 charactersSelect your year of birth2004200320022001200019991998199719961995199419931992199119901989198819871986198519841983198219811980197919781977197619751974197319721971197019691968196719661965196419631962196119601959195819571956195519541953195219511950194919481947194619451944194319421941194019391938193719361935193419331932193119301929192819271926192519241923192219211920191919181917191619151914You must be over 18 years old to registerYou must be over 18 years old to registerYear of birthI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. 
Read our Privacy noticeOpt-out-policyYou can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe.

{{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}

Create my account

By clicking ‘Create my account’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

RegisterI'll try later

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

More aboutGCSEExamsA levels Join our new commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments {"currentIndex":0}1/1‘Infuriating’ exam mistakes see pupils wrongly told to ignore topics ‘Infuriating’ exam mistakes see pupils wrongly told to ignore topics

Students have seen topics come up on exams they were not expecting this year

Getty Images/iStockphoto

✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

SubscribeAlready subscribed? Log inMost popular{{#link}}{{title}}{{/link}}Popular videos{{#link}} {{title}}{{/link}} {{#url}}{{short_headline}}{{/url}}Sponsored Features{{#link}}{{title}}{{/link}}Voucher CodesVery Discount Code20% off selected designer fashion with this Very discount codeBooking Com DiscountsGetaway Deals up to 15% off with Booking.com in JuneDebenhams Discount CodeFree UK delivery: £5 off orders worth £60 with this Debenhams voucher codeAliexpress Promo CodeUp to 70% off this week with AliExpress super value dealseBay Discount Code15% off selected orders with this eBay discount codeIndy / CompareCompare the Best Broadband Deals in the UKCompare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for youCheap Broadband Deals in 2022Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your areaFibre Broadband DealsAll you need to know about fibre broadbandBest iPhone dealsCompare the Apple contracts and get the latest iPhone offersCompare Mobile Phone DealsCompare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands