Exam invigilator cocked up!

[JadeEmpress]

Hi all,

DS has sat one of his exams today, in which he asked for extra paper for planning an essay. This request was initially granted, yet a second invigilator rushed over and confiscated the additional booklet, saying it wasn't allowed for his paper (an Edexcel language exam), and it seems to have put him off track and adversely affected his performance - not very happy at all, as I would've thought that it was common practice and its referenced all over the internet!! Now have a stressed DS who has 4 more papers to go.

He has done the same in mocks, and there has never, ever been a problem. Google searches and JCQ information go at odds with what the examiner has done. He has uni offers to meet and this frankly isn't acceptable...

We have put in an appeal with the school and are hoping for special consideration, though I'm not confident of whatever the outcome will be - does anyone have any experience with this sort of dilemma? What should we be doing? What sort of special consideration, if any, is accorded? Google seems to be saying 1-2%, but this is ridiculous, surely, there's more consideration?

Would appreciate any input, v stressed

It’s not against the rules, but the booklet is used first and then additional paper. Ideally we don’t want any extra sheets going missing or becoming detached from the booklet. There is usually sufficient space in the booklet. I invigilated an essay subject yesterday (over 250 candidates) and only 4 or 5 had additional sheets.

@Hairyfairy01

You can put a cross through anything you don't want marked.

He should have had a better understanding himself of the rules before the exam and if he has any other papers to sit this should teach him to be better prepared.

However, given the misunderstanding, going through a proper process to try to get any special consideration is I think more than fair. If it’s not given then fine but I can’t at all understand the argument of not doing it because others have it worse? Or it’ll build his resilience! Nonsense

As far as I'm aware, rough paper has never been allowed (my dd is autistic and did 2 languages!)

As far as special consideration for autism, when she was at school you had to have your diagnosis before the February you took GCSEs to get extra measures put in. (Dd was diagnosed age 2, if you make it to 18 without diagnosis then you can understand that the exam boards aren't convinced they can have significant challenges compared to other young people)

It's fair enough you reporting this to the head of exams - the first invigilator did make a mistake that was quickly rectified by the second.

The school should also have done mocks under 'exam conditions' ie following the exam instructions to the letter. It gets confusing otherwise, as your ds experienced.

That is a separate issue to your dd hoping for an A* for a uni offer or that many other candidates have the language as a heritage one.

Unless he has formally agreed access arrangements stating he can have rough paper then this is not allowed. Any access arrangements would have been communicated with you / him in writing and the exams officer will have a list of all students entitlements.

@KittyMcKitty

That is what I meant. Was the extra paper specifically included in the access arrangements and therefore allowed? Which would have been unusual because rough work is normally done in the booklet, with a line drawn through it.

But OP has said that the school SENCO hasn't been much help so maybe the school didn't provide any actual access arrangements. Which could be an issue in itself, even if extra paper wasn't allowed. There could be other areas of the exam that OP's son could have benefited from extra support with. Even if that support was just a clear explanation on how the booklet should be filled in (e.g. rough work written in booklet and then crossed out. Extra paper provided if you run out of room for answers etc).

I think the confusion is with the term ‘rough paper’ which is not allowed. Extra paper is allowed, but this is submitted to the exam board with the answer booklet. Rough notes go in the booklet. As pp have mentioned all candidates should have sat mocks under these conditions and be aware of the rules.

There isn’t a need for extra paper at the planning stage , this should be completed in the answer booklet and clearly crossed out by the student at the end to indicate it should not be marked .

Extra plain lined paper in not allowed in any circumstances, although would have been given in mocks to save costs on the headed exam extra paper. I would say the teachers should have made clear to the students at this stage that the real exams work slightly differently in regard to this .

If a student then runs out of space once having filled the original answer booklet , extra official exam headed sheets will be given . These have a space for the candidates details to be filled in and must be submitted with the original answer booklet . Depending on the exam spare blank pages may be at the back of the answer book or extra space may be in each section .

It sounds like the first invigilator gave paper when strictly shouldn’t have and it was taken away before your son started to write on it , so a matter of seconds or a minute possibly? Your son presumably then completed his work as he should have .

You could raise it with your exams office if you think it genuinely had such an effect on your son , they in turn will pass your details to the exams board . I wouldn’t comment on the likelihood of an extra % being given , but knowing some far more severe cases that have been declined I wouldn’t expect too much .

If this is the final paper he’s sat, has this not come up before?

I’m an invigilator - not giving your son an additional book was correct as you state he didn’t use all the original booklet. You are not allowed additional sheets until the original answer booklet is complete - ie all notes, plans etc are done on original answer booklet. Only when this is full can more paper be given

@Prescottdanni123 school support of his additional needs doesn’t have any bearing on the invigilating of exams however.

I have never known an access arrangement to allow rough paper - indeed in the JCQ regulations booklets section on access arrangements this is not mentioned.

As the op’s dc has had a very recent diagnosis it would be vanishingly unlikely tgat something like this was granted esp as she has not mentioned any other access arrangements (25% for processing would be the most common thing in this situation).

Well I can see where he gets his tendency to overreact from

If he has been given rough paper in mocks etc you could argue that this is practice by the school in terms of getting students ready for exams BUT he should have listened to the instructions they are really important as they essentially tell the students what they need to do - that’s what they are there for.

I hope you aren’t making this big a deal over this in front of your son OP. I think you said he had more exams to go? Focus on those for the time being, you don’t want him all in a tizz when he goes into them, do you?

Do what you like re the school, but make sure you’ve got your facts straight first or you’ll look ridiculous (you’ve come across somewhat ridiculous here).

I'm pretty sure that only exam boards can give special consideration, not the school eho can help submit the request, so they'll have to informed if you're wanting to go down that route.

It was a while ago now, but I had actual flu during my A Levels - slept for days instead of revising, came home after the exam and slept through until the next day. I got 0 consideration despite a doctor's note.

My understanding, though, is as someone has said above - papers are only for answers, not notes, and all papers have to be collated, clipped together, and submitted.

He has done the same in mocks, and there has never, ever been a problem. Google searches and JCQ information go at odds with what the examiner has done. He has uni offers to meet and this frankly isn't acceptable...

It sounds like the school might have arsed up then if he's always been given paper in mocks but he should have listened to the instructions in the actual exam.

Did they do their mocks in booklets at his school?

My dd was sent into a tizzy when she was told they couldn't use gel pens at the start of her first exam and she had to ask for a pen which put her off a bit. I just rolled my eyes at her when she told me though.

OP, you are crazily over-invested in this.

I get that we all care about our DC, and want the best outcome possible for them.

But your DS is an adult, and has a lifetime of decisions & challenging situations to address, himself. This is a very minor issue & you are making the matter worse by overreacting.

Quite aside from the rights and wrongs of the rough paper debate, this really does seem a storm in the proverbial teacup.

OP, your DS has managed to get high grades up to now before getting his diagnosis of autism, so it seems that he has been able to manage this far. When he goes to uni, indeed throughout his life, there are going to be many more events far more disruptive than this; it will be an invaluable lesson if he can learn to cope with them (and if you can do the same on his behalf).

What about if one child in the exam hall needs a toilet break? That can be disruptive and interrupt the flow of thought for their neighbours. Should they all get an extra1% too? Where does this end?

This. All notes had to be handed in so should be on the main answer booklet.

It can’t hurt to try and get the extra point. It will also let who ever needs to know one of the staff needs some training.

I'd focus on calming your DS. Any talk of appeals from you will only affect him more adversely. Draw a line, move on, and stay in the zone..!

Invigilator here.

there are 2 sorts of exams - those where extra paper is allowed and those where it isn’t. Where extra paper is allowed the invigorate will be given exam board paper/booklets to hand out. Where it’s not all the work is done in the question paper - there is no extra in the room to provide. In no circumstances would you give out normal paper.

the instruction about do rough working in the booklet actually means do all rough working on paper that’s being handed in - but it’s generally only meaningful where there’s no extra paper! Otherwise it would imply that even when you’d legitimately got onto extra paper you couldn’t do rough work on it!

where extra paper is available it is ALL submitted to the board - even if it just has doodles on.

tbh if it’s an exam where extra paper is available/allowed I would see no reason not to give it out - it would still be submitted to the board and marked as part of the relevant question. If there’s no extra paper available then there’s nothing to give out.

What about if one child in the exam hall needs a toilet break? That can be disruptive and interrupt the flow of thought for their neighbours. Should they all get an extra1% too? Where does this end?

At the start of the GCSEs the council felled a load of trees outside DD's school and half the exam hall was sneezing like maniacs. Dd said the invigilators had to radio for more boxes of tissues and then the lady from the office had to come in with a tower of tissue boxes like something from a comic.

Apparently were up and down the aisles with tissues throughout the entire exam.