Exam board WJEC has apologised after four pages were left out of an A-level exam leaving candidates without questions about texts they had studied. When students opened the papers for their English language and literature A-level on June 7 they were stunned to find expected questions on three Shakespeare plays weren't there.
Distraught candidates were left in tears and teachers said they had a moment of horror believing they had taught the wrong texts. The Association of School and College Leaders said candidates had been “let down” and the WJEC should have ensured the first exam papers for three years were correct.
In a letter to school exam officers the WJEC apologised and said it would take action to ensure candidates were not disadvantaged. A total of 730 candidates entered the exam, according to data from regulator Qualifications Wales. The error has knocked the confidence of pupils worried about how it will affect their results and is an added blow after years of Covid disruption to their education, parents and teachers said. The mistake follows complaints about the A-level maths paper
Four pages of Tuesday's A-level English paper were affected, the WJEC confirmed. In its email to school exams officers, which we have seen, the WJEC added: “We want to reassure all centres and candidates that we have standard processes in place to account for such issues and to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged. "
The email went on: "We will be contacting all centres to ascertain any impact this has had on candidates taking this morning’s examination. Once we have gathered this information we will be able to advise you on the remedial actions we will put in place, including whether centres should apply for special consideration.
“Once again we would like to apologise for this error. This is a very rare occurrence and we are taking the matter very seriously. Our teams will be working at pace to investigate this issue and appreciate your patience during this time.”
The mistake follows complaints that the A-level maths exam before half term included content not on the revised specification although the WJEC has denied that. There have also been further complaints that the A2 maths paper this week also included content students were told they did not have to cover and claims there was an error in this week’s AS music exam.
Summer exams are being held for the first time in three years after teacher-assessed grades were awarded during the pandemic. Some have said this year's A-level cohort is the worst affected as pupils in year 13 now had both their GCSE and AS-levels cancelled as well as dealing with varied levels of missed school through the pandemic.
Parents described the effect of the English language and literature A-level error on their children on social media, saying some had been left in tears. The Association of School and College Leaders Cymru said members across Wales had been in touch to complain.
ASCL Cymru director Eithne Hughes said: “This English language and literature paper has let candidates down. These are the first exam papers that have gone out in three years. You would expect them to be correct and expect quality assurance.
“Papers should be absolutely spot on given the turbulence in the system prior to this set of exams. They should have been completely nailed down and triple-checked.
“Rigorous quality assurance was put on schools during the last two years of teacher-assessed grades. Here we are after half term with another issue with a gateway qualification to university.
“The WJEC have apologised, but they could not really do anything else. The error is clear and someone should have checked.”
She said the mistake would further affect wellbeing among this A-level cohort who were never able to sit their GCSEs or AS-levels because they were cancelled in the pandemic. “The WJEC can put in place some sort of mitigation for this error to recompense for those who suffered in terms of the exam but how do you compensate for loss of confidence an wellbeing? From a candidate’s point of view you open the paper looking for a question on Othello or The Tempest and find none there. Teachers will also have had a heart-stopping moment thinking they taught the wrong texts.”
A WJEC spokesman said: "WJEC would like to apologise for the paper collation error that impacted some students in one section of our A-level English language and literature paper. Although we produce a significant number of examination questions each year this is a rare occurrence and we are taking the matter very seriously.
"We would like to reassure students that we have robust procedures in place to ensure they are not disadvantaged and that they are treated fairly. All examination answers will be considered carefully during the marking and grading process to ensure all students are provided with a fair qualification result. "This is our immediate priority and once results have been issued in August we will look carefully at the reasons for the error that occurred and take action as appropriate."
On complaints over A-level maths and music papers the WJEC spokesman added: "We take a great deal of care to ensure that examinations are fair and assess only the subject content which is included in our specifications. For 2022 we made adaptations to the subject content of our qualifications and removed some topics from assessment this summer while being careful to retain all the knowledge and skills which are essential for progression to the next level of study. These adaptations were published in September 2021 on our public website and aimed to mitigate disruption to teaching and learning caused by the pandemic.
‘We can confirm that all of the questions within the A-level mathematics unit three examination were from the subject content in the specification and did not rely on knowledge and understanding of any topics identified as removed from assessment in 2022. Examinations always include a range of questions, some of which are more challenging than others, so that we can effectively differentiate across the whole grade range and award a fair grade to each student. We also consider past assessments when writing papers to ensure that each year’s examinations are comparable.
‘When all the examinations are marked senior examiners carefully consider students’ responses and set grade boundaries accordingly. If we find, for example, that one year’s paper was slightly more demanding than a previous year the grade boundaries we set will take account of that. In addition Qualifications Wales has announced that qualifications will be awarded more generously in 2022 than in 2019 (the last full examination series) to mitigate the disruption experienced by students due to the pandemic.
“We will look at the AS music exam responses during our marking process and should any issues be identified we will adjust the marking scheme to ensure no learner is disadvantaged.”
Regulator responds
Qualifications Wales said in a statement: "We have been notified of an error with the WJEC A Level English Language and Literature, Unit 3 exam paper, where pages of the exam paper were missing.
"WJEC has confirmed the actions they will take to address the error. WJEC has contacted all schools and colleges in Wales to confirm that action will be taken to ensure that learners are not disadvantaged.
"WJEC will work with all affected exam schools and colleges to identify the specific impact of the incident. Qualifications Wales wants to reassure everyone that for all learners that were unable to answer a question due to this error, this will be taken into account when grades are awarded.
"We will continue to monitor the actions taken by WJEC to make sure learners in Wales are not disadvantaged."
On complaints about the maths A level paper the regulator added: "WJEC has confirmed that all the questions in this summer’s exams are from the adapted subject content and that they do not rely on knowledge or understanding of any topics that have been removed from the assessment for this year.
"We monitored WJEC’s production of this summer’s exam papers and are satisfied with the processes. Every year, learners may find some exams difficult and some more easy. The overall balance of each paper is considered when the grade boundaries are set.”
