Wrong GCSE Paper!!!

[TheOnlyMrsW]

Hi, hoping someone will be able to help. DD16 went into school for her first Maths paper this morning, instead of being in the main exam hall she's in a small room to the side with half a dozen other kids. No idea how they've managed it but her and the children in their room have been given the wrong paper - they got the AQA paper instead of EdExcel (the main hall students got the right one).

Phoned school a little while ago and they're apparently trying to work out what happens now..........but what can they possibly do? They obviously can't give them the correct paper at a later date as everyone else has already seen it and they may get details of the questions, will EdExcel have to send a completely different paper, or them just take the grade off the other 2 papers and skip this one?

There's very few gaps in the timetable now until the last week of exams, but what if they don't all have the same day "spare"? Out of all the exams this paper was the one she was dreading the most and now to have this to deal with is crappy 😥

Usually minimum pack size is 5 or 10. We always have more than one spare, it's a big school so for core subjects we'll have 10-20 spare papers.

@actiongirl1978 I have clashes from hell with both year 10 and 11 siting exams one day next week so I guarantee the inspector will come then 😂

@DorotheaDiamond I have a couple of exams with just 1 student and have been sent at least 5 of each paper.

@xyzandabc i was just surprised there would be so many spare in school for only one entry but I hadn’t realised what @PinkPomegranite was saying about pack sizes

@PinkPomegranite omg you will be in my thoughts.

@actiongirl1978 thanks, I literally have 2 year groups doing 4 subjects between them with 3 different clashes. Everything is colour coordinated and I've drafted in SLT to see students in and out so no one sneaks out after their first exam!
@Threetulips there are no teacher grades this year, it will be the normal special consideration. It's not uncommon for a student to sit the wrong paper so there are already processes in place.

The OP will worry obviously but it really is common so not a problem for the exam board to deal with. Given the number of papers many EOs are dealing with it's no surprise there are mistakes sometimes, we're only human.

This has been a risk for years. It forms my worst experience in an exam. In the dark ages when I was in sixth form we had to runners for the GCSE exams. Two exams - both maths, main and re-sit, different exam boards. Boy who I knew came in late and was shown to wrong side of the hall. I sat for five minutes shaking thinking someone must notice then had to point it out to the deputy head who was the invigilator.

i presume they don’t have students do that now, we were just supposed to find another teacher if someone wanted the toilet so there were enough.

The pack is opened in the room in front of the student, so if there is a pack of 10 papers, there will be 9 spare.

@CraftyGin not at either of the schools I work at!!! Papers are on desks when they come in

Same here. Sometimes they are opened in the secure room as we need to split packs to share out between the various different rooms. It would be unusual to open the packs in front of the student.

The pack is supposed to be opened in front of the student for CIE exams, but all the other exams boards use JCQ rules.

I worked in exams where we took in home edders all doing different tiers and boards and this was one of my worst nightmares.

I’m an EO and recently discussed this sort of scenario. Her school should send off the AQA paper to Edexcel (with a cover note) and it can be marked along with special consideration. They will mark a paper from another board to help gauge the pupils marks along with the other 2 Edexcel papers she’ll sit as it’s unfair to disadvantage her. I know it seems unthinkable now but it can be fixed. Please don’t worry.

Not true for JCQ regulated exams. We open in secure store with second pair of eyes. Then split for separate rooms, place in sealed envelopes and take to rooms, then papers are put out before pupils enter by seating plan. We then ask pupils to ensure they have the correct paper in front of them too.

@DaffodilGreen thank you for taking time to respond, as with the other EO's I know it's so busy for you. As I understand the paper completed won't be sent off to EdExcel, I didn't speak to EO from school but he did say that he was speaking to them again on Monday. My concern with just assessing from the two remaining papers is that they are both calculator papers and yesterday's was non-calculator so there's no way of then knowing DD's skillset in that part of the course. The poor bloke us phoning me on Monday as well and I definitely mean to ask that question as her dad didn't.

I know in 10 years time DD's GCSE maths grade won't matter at all and she's not intending to take it next year but........and but.....

@TheOnlyMrsW Nothing to add in terms of the issue, but wanted to say that, as with many threads on here, it’s been such an interesting read. It has really opened my eyes to the EO role, and it’s amazing to have the professional experience of experts in their fields - my favourite thing about MN.
You are obviously such a wonderful mum! Focused on the situation, got your daughter’s back, but not hyping anything up and being understanding of the background to the situation.
I’m so pleased your daughter got the outcome you wanted and hope the results fall her way.

You’re very welcome. When I first started, a much more experienced EO told me to never get too upset about mistakes as an exam board would never penalise a pupil due to an admin error by us. That there is always a solution and it’s always fixable.

One thing to know at the moment is that exam board phones are currently manned by lots of seasonal staff so some are giving out wrong information. If this happened in my school I’d send off the wrong paper to the right board with a cover letter and give them time to get it to the right person to solve it. Don’t panic too much about an instant fix. Best to set the wheels in motion properly and then let them have time to resolve it. This won’t be the only pupil this happens to this summer and they will sort it for your DD. It just might take a while so best for her to just focus on the rest of her exams for now but with the reassurance it will get sorted eventually. Best of luck to your DD and thank you for not vilifying us EO’s. We are human and I can honestly say it’s the single hardest job I’ve ever done in my life.

I am so sorry for this mess and hope it reaches a good conclusion.

re the above it’s ultimately the exams officers mess (not the invigilator) as they are responsible for the allocations of papers and all papers are required to be checked and signed for by 2 sets of eyes. Were the Edexcel papers in the room? The invigilator should have had full paperwork for the room detailing each candidate, their candidate number and what they’ve been entered for. Did the paperwork specify the board? If not the invigilator has no way of knowing, as should the students. Interestingly it says in the speech all students get before the exam that they should check that the paper is correct for the day, date, time, subject, unit, level or tier but does not mention exam board (see attached from JCQ regs).

basically a massive fuck up from the exams officer and I would question their whole set up! I would also ask to see their paperwork for the room.

Teacher here so I didn’t want to read an run! I hope this had a positive outcome so please
update us.
I’ve never know this to happen in my school so can’t give a specific answer but when the error is nothing to do with the pupil, the exams boards are usually pretty understanding!

Of course this is far from ideal but will the content be so very different between the different boards?

For maths I mean. Obviously in other subjects there may be a lot more variance.

I don't think a candidate can sit an exam unless they've been entered for it with the exam board by a deadline, so they won't record the result of the paper even if it's submitted.

The school my children go to do Edexcel Maths and the school I work in does AQA. Whilst a circle theorem is always a circle theorem I have to say the look and feel of the papers (layout etc) are quite different - much more so then with the Edexcel / AQA ENG Lang & Lit.

Agree, the format is very different, AQA also has multiple choice questions whereas Edexcel doesn’t.

More critically this year; however, is the advanced information - all of the OP’s DD’s prep for this paper would have been geared towards the Edexcel advanced information which isn’t the same as the AQA one.

@KittyMcKitty it's not on the EO alone, it sounds like a catalogue of small errors from how the OP has described it.
Firstly the Edexcel candidate was withdrawn (so it would seem the EO didn't know that else they wouldn't have sent out that paper), secondly the invigilator gave out the wrong papers (they must have had both AQA and Edexcel and presumably a register of the papers for each student), then the students didn't notice they had the wrong board. So a whole load of times that someone could have stopped the error but didn't.

It's very easy to make mistakes, especially if you are working with new invigilators, who this year especially, might be doing their first exam or internal school staff who don't usually do exams. 2 boards in 1 room is asking for a mistake and those of us who have done the job for years usually have systems in place but even these can go wrong sometimes.

This year as well there will be loads of EOs who are doing their first season despite having been in the job for 2 or 3 years. Whilst none of that helps the OP or her DD feel any better about the mistake, EOs are only human and can't be in every room checking every paper before every exam so we rely on others who occasionally get it wrong.

This is not correct. I could decide to give a paper to a pupil on the day who’d never been entered. Then go to my desk and enter him (for triple fees). It’s absolutely possible in case of missed entries.

Good to know @DaffodilGreen