Will DD likely be penalised for this

[curiousitygotthebetterofme]

DD(15) sat a GCSE exam yesterday, which she prepared so well and worked hard for.

She is aware of all the exam hall rules including that you can’t bring mobile phones in with you.

Yesterday, she had her phone with her but forgot to leave it at the school reception until after the exam was finished.

She was not using her mobile phone during the exam nor did she attempt to. The phone was also switched off.

It was in her pocket and it fell out onto the floor and invigilator seen it happen.

Her head of year rang me yesterday to inform
that they are obliged to report it to the exam board and that they could very well take marks off her or disqualify her.

I feel sorry for DD as she worked so hard for these exams and she has been quite distressed over it all and the possibility of being penalised. It just slipped her mind but she knows to be more aware for future exams.

I get that exam boards have to follow procedures, but surely the fact she wasn't actually using the phone will work in her favour?

It’s hard lesson for her, hopefully they don’t go too hard on her.

I am invigilator, we had the same happen to a student a few years back. Unfortunately all his exam papers in all subjects for that board were cancelled. Obviously he was distraught.

This. Children with a psychological high need to achieve coupled with a high fear of failure are often on a knife edge of anxiety and and either freeze or act inappropriately.” Forgetting “ the phone seems an unlikely excuse for a previously rule observant child whose focus has been on examinations for so long.

It’s really hard for kids to forget that they have their phone as there are a lot of reminders. Kids with no intention of cheating may decide to take their phone into an exam room totally switched off because they don’t want to have to queue up to collect it at the end of the day. We discovered a big problem with that during an exam mock series a few years ago and now we have a system whereby we check that we have the have the phone of every student sitting an exam handed in. Really the warnings should be enough, but a lot of kids think if it’s totally switched off then there’s really no harm done and that the chances of being caught are slim. Once a few people get away with it once then it spreads quickly. If the school are just trusting that every year 11 hands their phone in at reception each morning then the school may need to look at their procedures as I imagine they probably have a lot of students regularly “forgetting” to hand in phones and not getting caught.

Just a thought, so don’t pile on me, but I think there are a couple of ways in which you could prove the phone was off for the duration of the exam.

When a phone is switched off, it’s logged on the network so there would be a record of down time. Not sure how possible it is to retrieve records but might be worth contacting your provider to see if they can help. Also you could contact a technician familiar with whatever make of phone it is, as they can run a handset diagnostic on the device which allows them to see power up and power down times.

If it’s an iPhone there is also an app called LIRUM which you can download and use to extract information from the phone as to usage and down time.

Obviously not sure if any of this would be accepted as evidence by the examining boards if they have a blanket policy which she has breached, and it would probably be setting a precedent, but worth a try considering what’s at stake.

I believe that she didn’t cheat. But the rule is to hand over your phone and she didn’t do that. Exams are serious and she was careless about it. Sorry, I don’t mean to be harsh, but I’m someone who checks and rechecks my phone every exam because I’m so worried about forgetting. I’m sure she’ll be more careful in future.

Assuming NI is covered by JCQ regs not only are there posters up advising that mobile phones aren’t allowed (inside and outside exam room) but also in the speech played to all students it says “check your pockets for items like mobile phones … and if you have any hand them into an invigilator now”.

if you look on JCQ website they have (or certainly used to) examples of malpractice and the outcomes - I seem to remember there was something similar.

Just a thought, so don’t pile on me, but I think there are a couple of ways in which you could prove the phone was off for the duration of the exam.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter - just having your phone on you is enough to get you disqualified (from one exam at best, from all exams at worst).

She just doesn’t see the point in turning up for her exams this week

So what exam/exam board was it?.

She should definitely still turn up. Losing all qualifications with the exam board would be a worst-case and there’s a good chance that she may only lose the marks from one paper and so she would want to pick up as many marks as possible on any remaining papers for that qualification and her other subjects may be totally unaffected.

I think you need to talk to the school - and have them also talk to your DD - worse case is losing all exams - so you need to know how likely this is and school may have more insight on that - and what they think the way forward is.

I understand she's upset, but this is just being silly and also makes her look guilty, IMO.

There will have been signs on the exam room door and the invigilators will have reminded candidates to hand in their phones. This is included on a list of things the invigilators have to say so I don't see how she could have forgotten.

@curiousitygotthebetterofme which is it? What you said above or “she had her phone with her but forgot to leave it at the school reception until after the exam was finished?”

You don’t seem to know what actually happened, regarding the phone? There is a big difference between the 2 scenarios! I struggle to understand how someone (especially a teenager), doesn’t know they they had their phone in their pocket? Plus, how did their phone actually fall on the ground during an exam if they weren’t touching it?

but at the same time part of me thought “wow, really” because I know she wasn’t cheating and the phone was switched off, it just slid out of her pocket

I'm willing to believe she didn't cheat, and feel sorry for the pressure she has been putting on herself.

However I feel a bit embarrassed for you thinking the school should not report it. As a pp said, it's important that you handle things well and not fuel her distress.

Teacher here. The rules are crystal clear on this and students are told multiple times. It doesn’t matter whether she used it or not - it’s really serious and she could be disqualified from that and potentially other exams. Our students leave theirs outside the exam hall.

mistakes do happen. Hope DD is ok, remember that gcse grades don’t define your life

She has sworn that it was a genuine accident, she was stressed for the exam and wasn’t even thinking about her phone

I totally get how this could have been the case beforehand but it doesn't explain ignoring the warnings on the day, even inside the actual exam room. The one about "thinking she'd left it in the car" is a bit thin too, and I've never yet known a teen who doesn't know exactly where their precious phone is at all times

It really is a shame since she's worked hard, but I'm afraid I don't think you're getting the full truth here. Hopefully she'll only lose the marks for this particular exam, but the boards have little choice other than to take a tough line - if they didn't they'd soon be infested with phones, which every single student would insist they'd "forgotten"

When you have exams you're massively nervous. I can completely see how you could forget you have a phone in your pocket.

Why was the phone switched off if she'd completely forgotten about it?

It sounds odd, OP.

I agree. I doubt your daughter cheated. The way exam halls are set up, it'd be very hard to abstract a mobile from one's pocket, use it in any meaningful sense, turn it off, return it to the pocket. I'd be inclined to think she realized at some point and panicked, but in that case, if I were her ex I'd be taking pains to make damn bloody sure the thing didn't slip out of my pocket - sounds like she swung her blazer on or something and it came out then?

But she broke the rules and it's mind-boggling that she managed to, given how many reminders they're given and how serious the penalty.

if she doesn't sit any further exams they'll be free to infer - presuming she gets good marks in the ones she's taken - that she's done well in exams where she might have been using a phone, and doesn't want to sit ones future where she'll be obviously be prevented from trying. Terrible idea.

She should be offering to sit the exams in a room on her own with an invigilator a few feet away the whole time. And show them what she can do.

Dunno how 'ex' got in there 🙄

What exam was it?
Might help to try and work out if one can cheat.
Some exams I don't think you'll have enough time to try and cheat with a quick glance at your phone.

There are signs everywhere. The main invigilator also reminds students to put phones, watches and notes in their bags and put them at the front of the room before the exam starts. She will be penalised because there’s no way she can prove she didn’t use her phone to cheat.