IN THE latest embarrassment for the State exams body, a fresh apology was issued to students yesterday after a section of a Leaving Cert accounting paper went missing.
The apology from the State Exams Commission came after higher-level students in 16 Dublin schools received a paper with key sections missing.
Students and teachers in affected schools, mostly in the south Dublin area, found some questions had been printed twice while others, which constituted over 50 per cent of the total marks, did not appear.
Amid chaos and confusion yesterday afternoon, teachers and exam superintendents phoned, faxed and e-mailed the exams body in Athlone, Co Westmeath, in a bid to resolve the problem. Some schools waited up to 45 minutes before the correct paper was e-mailed or faxed to them.
The commission yesterday issued its now standard response that no student would be disadvantaged as a result of the error. However, it was clear last night that the impact of the error was greater in some schools than in others.
At Oatlands College in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, students received an additional 50 minutes to complete the exam. In contrast, students at Blackrock College say they were only allowed an additional 10 minutes, despite waiting “at least 35 minutes” to receive the paper. Students were instructed to begin their exam and await the new paper.
According to one student at Blackrock College, it was difficult to proceed without knowing all the questions. “We didn’t know what questions to choose without having all the options,” he said. “It was really confusing and we didn’t know what was going to happen. Everyone thinks it’s a complete disgrace, especially as accounting is quite a high-pressured exam. Some students didn’t even get to start the last question, which is worth 20 per cent of the marks.”
In all, 217 students were affected by the mistake.
Emma O’Shea, a teacher at Oatlands College, described it as “very disappointing. It’s a very evident mistake, very obvious. The page numbers were repeated, so it should have been spotted. ”
Last month, there was controversy when it was disclosed that the contract to print the exam papers was awarded to two British companies.
Last night, the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union said it was appalled at the error-strewn exam season. Carelessness by students is frowned upon; carelessness by those that set the exam is unacceptable and easily avoided, it said.
The error is the latest in a series of incidents that have caused embarrassment to the examinations commission this year.
In the most serious incident, 24,000 Junior Cert business students were unable to work out a cash-flow question on the higher-level paper last week because incorrect figures were given.
The commission has admitted that no examiner attempted the question before the paper was printed and circulated to students.
