Zut alors! French A-level question was ‘impossible to answer’

TEENAGERS say their university places are in jeopardy after errors in an A-level French paper made questions impossible to answer.

Pupils said they were forced to guess the answers during a listening exam when audio files were jumbled up and were out of sync with the questions.

Yesterday, exam board Eduqas admitted the error and said steps would be taken to make sure no sixth former is disadvantaged. Some 800 pupils sat the new French exam for the first time this year following reforms to make the qualifications more rigorous.

Schools have already complained of teething problems with the new content and pupils have been in despair over what they say are the ‘hardest exams ever’.

Yesterday, the mistakes on the language paper appeared to have been the last straw for some youngsters. One teenager called Ellie said on Twitter that the paper was ‘a disgrace’ and ‘beyond a joke’.

She said: ‘Please tell me I’m not the only one who completely guessed every answer

‘Say au revoir to my university chances’

for question four.’ Another, Jas, said it was ‘RIP’ for her French A-level while another candidate, Stella, said she feared the paper would mean ‘au revoir’ to her university chances.

Urania Jerasi said: ‘Half of the skills we needed to pass apparently was to guess what the producers of the exam were thinking while writing it... They were probably thinking of baguettes. Disappointed but not surprised.’

Parents also waded in, asking how marking will be adjusted to take account of the error. A similar mistake happened during the exam board’s Spanish A-level exam last week. In a statement, Eduqas admitted there was an ‘issue’ with the recording for the French test, adding: ‘We have contacted centres to inform them that a special consideration application can be made on behalf of those candidates.

‘Candidate responses will be considered carefully during the marking and awarding processes to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged.’ Eduqas is the England arm of Welsh exam board WJEC and offers the reformed A-levels for English pupils.