Exam board apologises after AS Maths exam asks impossible question
22 replies, posted
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13627415[/url]
[list][*]An AS-level Maths exam, sat by 6 800 students across the UK on Thursday, accidentally included a question that was impossible to answer.
[*]OCR, the exam board which wrote the paper, has apologised and is discounting the question's 8 marks and adjusting grade boundaries accordingly, but students are calling for the exam to be run again, saying the impossible question threw them off and distracted them from the rest of the paper.
[*]OCR said: The question as printed asked candidates to verify the shortest route, for two given conditions, giving values of 32.4 + 2x km and 34.2 + x km. These values should have been 34.3 + 2x km and 36.1 + x km respectively. The error was not to have included twice the journey between A and B (0.9 km) and the journey between F and G (1.0 km) in the values given.[/list]
[quote=BBC News][b]An "unfortunate error" meant maths students were set a question that was impossible to answer in an AS-level exam.[/b]
Just under 6,800 teenagers took the paper - set by the OCR exam body - last Thursday.
OCR has apologised, saying it will make sure candidates are not disadvantaged by the mistake.
But some students writing on social networking sites have been calling for the test to be re-run.
The error was in an exam paper taken in 335 schools and other exam centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
[b]Stress[/b]
The question carried eight marks out of 72 being awarded for the paper.
Candidate Thomas Fay, who contacted the BBC News website, said he had been distressed to find a question that appeared "impossible".
"This threw me in the exam and many people found this to cause much added stress in the exam," he added.
"Many people are worried that the mistake made by the examining board will severely affect the mark and grade they achieve in the paper. For many this was a final exam and will most likely influence final grades and university admission."
Dozens of other students have messaged the BBC News website to voice their anger and fears about their grades.
Aron De Vos, 17, from St Albans, said: "I spent a good 15 minutes trying to answer that question. I was getting very frustrated about why I couldn't get the answer.
"I want to retake that exam. I can't believe how much time was wasted on a question where we were only able to get zero marks."
OCR has said it deeply regrets the "unfortunate error" and says it has a range of procedures in place to ensure candidates are not disadvantaged.
[b]Review[/b]
A spokeswoman said: "We very much regret that there was a mistake... and that our quality assurance procedures failed to identify this error.
"Because we have been alerted to this so early, we are able to take this error into account when marking the paper. We will also take it into account when setting the grade boundaries. We have sent a letter to all schools and colleges explaining in more detail what we shall do.
"We do apologise again that this has happened."
The exam body says it is not going to discount the question from the marking, because that might disadvantage candidates who spent a lot of time trying to answer it.
Students will be awarded points for their attempts to work out the question and measures are also in place which are designed to recognise that other candidates may have discovered the error quickly, OCR says.
OCR released full details of the error - on paper "Decision Mathematics 1" - as follows:
[list][*]The question as printed asked candidates to verify the shortest route, for two given conditions, giving values of 32.4 + 2x km and 34.2 + x km. These values should have been 34.3 + 2x km and 36.1 + x km respectively. The error was not to have included twice the journey between A and B (0.9 km) and the journey between F and G (1.0 km) in the values given.[/list][/quote]
How the hell? surely they would double check the papers before they are sent out.
I actually tried to solve the problem :psyboom:
[QUOTE=ZakkShock;30241890]I actually tried to solve the problem :psyboom:[/QUOTE]
I was hoping someone would have actually solved it... fuckin badass
[QUOTE=smurfy;30242468]I'm considering suicide[/QUOTE]
Not like you to repost news articles, you must be going mad.
Good thing I'm too stupid to understand anything like that
In our final math exam we never got stuff like this, it was just like "investigate this function", we didn't have to calculate anything at all...
lol sounds like some are using it as an excuse for why they failed.
[QUOTE=Noz;30242735]lol sounds like some are using it as an excuse for why they failed.[/QUOTE]
Why wouldn't you?
[QUOTE=Jsm;30242586]Not like you to repost news articles, you must be going mad.[/QUOTE]
Im sorry dad!!
Can someone post the problem as it was on the exam, the fixed/real one, and how to solve it?
I don't understand the source. :(
[quote]
The exam body says it is not going to discount the question from the marking, because that might disadvantage candidates who spent a lot of time trying to answer it.[/quote]
"Sorry we made a mistake, we're not gonna take that question off the markings though, or your time on an impossible question would be even more useless."
[editline]4th June 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Collin665;30247990]Can someone post the problem as it was on the exam, the fixed/real one, and how to solve it?
I don't understand the source. :([/QUOTE]
You have point A and point B and a number of points in between, with the distances to and between those points given. What's the shortest route you can take from A to B while visiting all the other points between them?
[quote]The exam body says it is not going to discount the question from the marking, because that might disadvantage candidates who spent a lot of time trying to answer it.[/quote]
Okay, that makes little to no sense. We're not going to give you that question that was impossible because it wouldn't be fair to the people that spent a lot of time on it, which is everybody.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;30249237]
You have point A and point B and a number of points in between, with the distances to and between those points given. What's the shortest route you can take from A to B while visiting all the other points between them?[/QUOTE]
What is the formal mathematical way to solve that? Or is there none other than a 'loop' of checks?
[QUOTE=Collin665;30252711]What is the formal mathematical way to solve that? Or is there none other than a 'loop' of checks?[/QUOTE]
:psyboom: God damn, math is fury.
[QUOTE=Collin665;30252711]What is the formal mathematical way to solve that? Or is there none other than a 'loop' of checks?[/QUOTE]
I haven't seen the question but it is likely, having previously done decision 1 that is was a question on Dijkstra's algorithm.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijkstra%27s_algorithm[/url]
AS Maths is incredibly easy anyway
[QUOTE=Collin665;30252711]What is the formal mathematical way to solve that? Or is there none other than a 'loop' of checks?[/QUOTE]
Yeah I don't really see how this question teaches you anything else then some basic arithmetic/geometry. A formal mathematical way to solve it is far beyond anything you'd find in high school...
I would have just guessed on it and not gave a shit. Just like every time I see a question that confuses me too much. Maybe that's why I'm failing chemistry.
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