Given incorrect GCSE AQA BIOLOGY exam paper

[HawthornBike]

Hi
My child this morning (10/05/2024) was given and sat the incorrect Biology exam paper, ( first GCSE AQA ). He should have been given the foundation paper however he sat the higher one. The Teacher who informed us was brilliant and confirmed a ‘special consideration form’ will be completed and sent to AQA. He also confirmed that he’d speak to the recruited external examiners. Is there anything else I should be doing.

Many thanks

Hawthorn: both combined papers are the same length, and the same number of marks. Combined higher isn't longer than the foundation paper - although it might take longer to work through, with sentences rather than fill in the gaps style questions.
All combined papers are 1hr 15 (plus 19 mins extra time, I'm guessing in your case)

I invigilate edexcel and foundation and higher papers for combed science have the same duration so extra time should have been given.
if this is the same for aqa then he should have had his extra time as both tiers are 1 hour 15 I think.

Absolutely was at the school I work in. I invigilated that paper yesterday. Our combined and triples sat the same paper, but the triples will sit a second paper.

Then you weren't invigilating AQA biology or combined science.

I don't know how other boards do it, but there were 4 AQA biology papers yesterday, and the combined science papers were different to the triple (and all 4 papers are sat on my desk right now).

We do iGCSE maybe that’s why?

I really hope this is the case!

My son was given the choice of H or F for physics, he chose F as he felt he hadn't covered enough content for the H. If it is the case that a 5 would be easier to get on the H, that’s frustrating.

My son missed his first paper in chemistry due to illness.
Edexcel igcse

They simply took the average from the other two papers.
This may be the process they will use, I appreciate it’s a different board.

The pupils are usually asked to check they have the right paper too. They usually have some sort of briefing where they're reminded what paper they need and what to take in the exam etc.

This is part of the invigilator rubric …”please check you have been given the correct paper for the day, date, time, subject and TiER”…

How can it be impossible? Humans beings put the papers on the desks, it's obvious that someone might make a mistake and the person checking might not realize but for the student also not to check and notice does make it unlikely but clearly it happened so not impossible at all

Its concerning that as an exams officer you don't recognize the possibility of mistakes

Just to agree with people who have commented on other subjects. I am a science teacher of nearly 30 years and it absolutely IS NOT easier to get a 5 on higher than foundation.

A student who works really hard to learn facts but finds science and literacy tough could understand the paper well enough to get a 5 on foundation but end up slipping off the bottom on higher and get a U.
The exam boards have systems in place to deal with a student doing 1 of their papers at the wrong level and I am sure it will be sorted with no detriment to your son.

And I’m constantly amazed that no matter how many times we remind them to fill in their candidate number and centre number, I still have to tell quite a few of them when I go around 5 minutes before the end of the exam checking those that have closed their paper and are “finished”.

Oh I know....I'm sure they just tune out everything we say! I tend to be in small rooms where I can make eye contact with each of them when I ask if they have all checked it's the right paper which does make it easier! Would be great if they turned up with the right equipment too...yes you DO need a ruler and a pencil!!

Although a request to parents/teachers - invigilators can't tell your kids what to do if they need to change an answer that's a tick box or similar (been asked twice in 2 exams)....with my examiner hat on just tell them to make it REALLY CLEAR which answer they want! If there's any confusion with crossings out just write "the answer is B" or whatever so we know what they want marked. We want to give them marks - make it easy for us to do that!

It doesn’t seem to sink in for some students. Invigilating a t level accountancy exam last week and three students asked me for a calculator…

Who did you speak to? If it wasn't the Exams Officer, I'd ask to speak to them.

@BarcardiWithGadaffia usually as exam officers we have to print stickers for desks with names, exam code and centre number on so he shouldn't have even been sitting in the wrong exam area.

@jonnyhatesjazzzzz we don't put papers on desks until students have heard the exam rubric i.e do not start the paper until i give you permission to do so etc. our exam board state exams must be opened infront of the students and packed infront of students

I’m a mature student and I sat my GCSE exam last Friday, I was given a paper intended for another student. The invigilator didn’t attempt to help me when I queried the paper and she had no idea what paper was intended for me, nor could she tell me my candidate number. I now think I have spent a whole year studying for a paper that I wasn’t given. I wanted to sit Biology Higher tier and the paper I took was Biology (double award)?? As an exams officer can you shed any light on this for me? Thank you.

That must be an unusual board as JCQ regulations don't require that. You are allowed to put the scripts on the tables before the candidates come in.
I invigilate and sometimes the packing up of the scripts takes ages - how could you possibly do that in front of the kids? Another school I do it in has about 5 separate rooms so the scripts all get packed by the staff in the exams office.

In our hall the kids are divided by subject, tier etc but there are always ones sitting slightly out of their area for a myriad of reasons. We double / triple check everything but mistakes can happen-it's very rare but possible.

Where were you sitting it? That sounds very odd. Your name is on the official register showing what exam you have been entered for etc and that has to be sent off with your script.

I have been studying with Learndirect and sat the exam with Tutors& exams at a center in Wimbledon. I have to say the whole arrangement was a shambles and they didn’t even have a desk available for me or a number of other candidates, hence the reason for me sitting at a desk intended for another student who hadn’t shown up for the exam, this is why I think I was given the wrong paper. I’m very frustrated and worried all my hard work has been for nothing.

@TessHale - you need to ring them and check. If you were entered for a certain exam they would have had to check your name and script against the register they had for entrants before they send it off. You would then have entered your name and candidate number onto the answer paper. If you were sure you had the wrong paper the invigilator should definitely have double checked.

Thank you for confirming my thoughts. I did question it but she asked me to check, how am I supposed to know? That’s what I paid them for. To issue me the correct paper. I have emailed and I will call tomorrow. Thank you for your help.

When I did gcse as a mature student at local exam centre, I paid the exam centre for my application but I got something back from them from the exam board aqa showing the entry. (And later on the exam dates for each paper)

Was that correct?

The information I have had is that is much more likely for a student to do better with the Foundation papers for Science than the Higher papers.

We're looking at Foundation Science for DD (who is both SEN and utterly uninterested in them) and they said weaker candidates have come out with a higher grade on Foundation than stronger candidates attempting the Higher paper.