What's this about A Level papers being leaked?

Otarge · 2023-06-08T00:04:47+00:00

DS reckons a friend of his has seen a leaked paper. I thought it was all scams but apparently this friend actually got a hold of the real paper in advance. Is this really happening?

MrsHamlet · 08/06/2023 07:17

It might be. But if it is, your son needs to stay well away from it. Exam boards routinely monitor social media and deal with malpractice.

EduCated · 08/06/2023 11:24

It is possible it has happened, equally the rumour mills that anxious and fraught teenagers create are like no other. There isn’t a year that goes by with rumours like these. Whilst it can (and has, at times) happened, it is rarely as widespread or as major as it is presented to be, and there are always plenty of wind up merchants (and a healthy dose of bravado) to go around.

But yes, the best thing your DS can do, either way, is steer well clear, or report it if he has actual evidence.

Infusionist · 08/06/2023 11:30

There was an article a few days ago about teenagers buying fake papers via TikTok - obviously they only know they’re fake once they sit the exam. Surely it’s far more likely to be that (or just overblown rumour as PP says).

listsandbudgets · 08/06/2023 12:08

It definitely happened last year with at least one AQA paper a d students were disqualified as result. Tell him to to go near it.. if its real he runs risk of disqualification and if fake he's wasting time and potentially money

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/leaked-aqa-chemistry-a-level-paper-was-stolen-from-parcelforce-van/

Leaked chemistry A-level paper was stolen from a Parcelforce van

Students who had 'full access' to leaked paper disqualified, but exam board confirms no impact on grade boundaries

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/leaked-aqa-chemistry-a-level-paper-was-stolen-from-parcelforce-van

AtomicBlondeRose · 08/06/2023 16:05

I often wonder if knowing the questions in advance would make it much easier. In my subject I don’t think knowing the content of the A level paper would give you much advantage at all - students need to know their texts thoroughly and there’s a limited number of questions that could be asked. Someone who hadn’t revised or paid attention in class wouldn’t be able to write a good answer even if they knew every single question beforehand. I suppose maybe for something like Maths you could look stuff up? But you’d still have to remember it for the actual exam and if you were good at remembering you’d probably already have learnt the material!

Original poster

Otarge · 08/06/2023 17:30

Yes, I have told him to steer well clear. He's worked too hard to be risking getting disqualified at this stage. It's the nerdy kids who are doing it apparently - some of them accessed them after seeing messages on discord.

OP posts:

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 10/06/2023 10:22

Is it definitely in advance or is it one that's already been sat? There are definitely papers on the internet days after exams have been sat (which is not allowed but increasingly common).

Genuine papers being leaked in advance is much rarer although there are a lot of scammers out there. But it has and does happen, unfortunately.

If you are seriously concerned, contact his school with as much detail as possible and they can alert the exam board. And yes, stay well away because the consequences if caught are serious.

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 10/06/2023 10:26

AtomicBlondeRose · 08/06/2023 16:05

I often wonder if knowing the questions in advance would make it much easier. In my subject I don’t think knowing the content of the A level paper would give you much advantage at all - students need to know their texts thoroughly and there’s a limited number of questions that could be asked. Someone who hadn’t revised or paid attention in class wouldn’t be able to write a good answer even if they knew every single question beforehand. I suppose maybe for something like Maths you could look stuff up? But you’d still have to remember it for the actual exam and if you were good at remembering you’d probably already have learnt the material!

I think for sciences it does help to some extent because not every topic is assessed for each year. So if for biology you know to revise protein structure but not lipids for example, that helps.

If you've never understood protein structure in the first place it probably helps less!

There might also be a few definitions on the paper which you could Google. A lot of the papers are applied so it's not as easy as just searching for the answers.

People who see leaked papers can still misinterpret questions, make maths mistakes, and they still have to remember what they've looked up in the exam. I think it's more likely to mean a B student getting an A than an E student getting an A.

But I do think for higher end students there is an advantage and it would skew the grade boundaries up for everyone.

peacypops · 11/06/2023 14:04

It's very unlikely to be true. There are many many fake papers being offered online but it's pretty much always a scam. The exams boards have dedicated teams monitoring social media for any such claims. And on the rare occasion there are security breaches they are normally on top of it very promptly. If a student is found to be involved in any kind of cheating or even potential cheating then they face huge consequences.

littleripper · 11/06/2023 15:53

Both real and fake papers have been sold. It's always happened. At my brothers school a teacher was fired for it