[release]
[h2]Multiple-choice AS-level exam answers 'all wrong'[/h2]
Another incorrect question has appeared in an AS-level exam - the third such mistake pupils have faced this summer.
The multiple-choice biology question, set by Edexcel, offered a selection of wrong answers but not the correct one.
The exam board said the question was worth one mark out of a possible 425 and marking would be adjusted to ensure "no candidate is disadvantaged".
The two other "unanswerable questions" were in maths and business studies AS-level papers set by other exam boards.
Students have complained that even if the questions are discounted, it is difficult to know how much the overall grade could have been affected by the time wasted trying to interpret a wrong question.
One of the pupils who sat the biology exam, on 16 May, has e-mailed the BBC News website to complain the disruption caused by trying to make sense of the error could affect his university application.
"This was a re-take for me, so the time I lost spent on that question could possibly have cost me a university place, right before the fees go up," he wrote.
Edexcel said in a statement: "The marks for this paper will be adjusted during marking and standardising to ensure no candidate is disadvantaged and full details about how this was dealt with will be published in the mark scheme and examiner's report."
In the business-studies error, set by the AQA board, pupils were asked to make a calculation without being given the information necessary to make it possible.
An "unfortunate error" in a maths AS-level paper, set by OCR, meant students were also set a question that was impossible to answer.
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[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13697116[/url]
Great job guys... :science:
Also, did anyone on FP take this exam and if so, what are your thoughts?
Haha there was a question on my biology test that said something like "Some people say they can sense things and thoughts with extra sensory perception. How should the community feel about this."
one of the answers was "The community should believe this despite the fact that there is no real evidence"
That's the one I chose =D
They've done it wrong 3 times now?
How the flying fuck, how hard is it to double check your fucking information
[quote]
"This was a re-take for me, so the time I lost spent on that question could possibly have cost me a university place, right before the fees go up," he wrote.
[/quote]
Right. I could buy this if it was a question that required an elaborate answer, but it was just a "choose one out of four possible answers". Takes 10 seconds.
These guys really need to get their shit together.
Why is this a big deal, surely you think to yourself "they're obviously going to catch this" and continue. It's happened to me before (although unfortunately it wasn't a proper test and my lecturer doesn't believe me :v:).
[QUOTE=Tobba;30329136]They've done it wrong 3 times now?
How the flying fuck, how hard is it to double check your fucking information[/QUOTE]
Take note that the three times was from different exam boards. I'd be more concerned if you had an exam board appearing three times.
Still fucking stupid though, and exactly as you say, it's not that hard to double and triple check questions to make sure they are answerable.
I really hope none of my upcoming exams have impossible questions. :ohdear:
[QUOTE=Turnips5;30329303]I really hope none of my upcoming exams have impossible questions. :ohdear:[/QUOTE]
A load of questions have seemed impossible for me :(
[QUOTE=demoguy08;30329179]Right. I could buy this if it was a question that required an elaborate answer, but it was just a "choose one out of four possible answers". Takes 10 seconds.[/QUOTE]
Maybe, but this kind of thing sometimes throws people, making them panic and do badly on the rest of the exam.
I took this exam and didn't notice any wrong questions, anyone have any ideas on which question it was?
Edit:
Nevermind, they're talking about Unit 1, I did Unit 2.
I'm not in college to take an A-Level exam yet, but the exams set by Edexcel at GCSE level are absolutely terrible, some of the questions are un-necessarily long and incomprehendable.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;30329179]Right. I could buy this if it was a question that required an elaborate answer, but it was just a "choose one out of four possible answers". Takes 10 seconds.[/QUOTE]
Some questions end up with you constantly thinking about the right answer. If this was one of those confusing questions with no fitting answer, no wonder he's pissed.
[QUOTE=MasterG;30329799]Lucky twats. I have to pay 3 times what the people taking their A2s do. Looking really forward to starting my professional life saddled with £27,000 of debt.[/QUOTE]
Then there's people like me, who get 536$ a month to be in school.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;30329179]Right. I could buy this if it was a question that required an elaborate answer, but it was just a "choose one out of four possible answers". Takes 10 seconds.[/QUOTE]
It'd more be like
"Oh, I know this"
"Wait, what the fuck, my answer isnt on the list, what"
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck"
Edexcel are great.
They ask you questions about Flapjacks and people called Tarish.
So, if you didnt answer you got full marks for the question?
Luckily took Biology with OCR and Maths with AQA
[QUOTE=demoguy08;30329179]Right. I could buy this if it was a question that required an elaborate answer, but it was just a "choose one out of four possible answers". Takes 10 seconds.[/QUOTE]
It's not really like that. If I stumbled on one of those questions, I would be completely confused and attempt several methods of trying the get the answers on the choices to match mine.
Multiple Choice tests are a retarded way of measuring anything, much less intelligence.
[editline]8th June 2011[/editline]
Or should I say Multiple Guess.
This is a different exam board people, read it, remember.
This error was by Edexcel.
The Business Studies was AQA and the Maths was OCR.
Seems like all 3 have fucked up.
[I]Incompetence in the school system?!?!?![/I]
[QUOTE=LuckyLuke;30329837]I'm not in college to take an A-Level exam yet, but the exams set by Edexcel at GCSE level are absolutely terrible, some of the questions are un-necessarily long and incomprehendable.[/QUOTE]
A lot of the questions in the CIE Science papers are poorly worded aswell.
You can't lose!
[editline]9th June 2011[/editline]
Actually you can!
I still find it amazing that they don't proof-read / dummy-run their tests.
[QUOTE=Coffee;30330868]Edexcel are great.
They ask you questions about Flapjacks and people called Tarish.[/QUOTE]
I had a BTEC Maths question that asked about a bird shop (fuck that was hard). I'm pretty sure EdExcel word their questions so they're a lot more applicable to real-life situations, which is pretty cool.
OCR --> Knowledge questions
Every other exam board --> Guessing what the examiner wants.
[QUOTE=MasterG;30329799]Lucky twats. I have to pay 3 times what the people taking their A2s do. Looking really forward to starting my professional life saddled with £27,000 of debt.[/QUOTE]
Aha, no, £27,000 is near what I'll be having to pay, you've got the tutition fees and maintenance loans too so you're looking closer to £40,000-45,000.
Accounting the worst marked paper, first they used to give marks for putting the title down, then they stopped doing that, then they stopped giving Own figure marks and now they've started awarding marks for totals, meaning ALL calaucations prior to the actual figures which need to be worked out have to be correct to get the mark. So basically one mistake early on loses all the marks even if the calculation is correct. (Think of a maths paper where instead of geting 5/6 for a question where you miscopied one of the numbers but still did the exact right workings and method you now get 0/6)
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