Maths A-level leaked for third year in a row

AN EXAM board has begun an investigation after a maths A-level paper was leaked online for the third year in a row.

Edexcel, which is owned by Pearson, confirmed that “blacked-out images” of two exam questions were published on social media ahead of yesterday’s exam.

Pictures of two questions were posted from a Twitter account – which has since been deleted – the day before the exam, with the details scribbled out. An accompanying message invited students to get in touch via a direct message “if you want tomorrow’s A-level Maths, Stats and Mechanics paper 3 exam”.

Others claimed that the entire paper had been leaked and was circulating in group message conversations on the morning of the exam.

Earlier this year, Pearson announced that some of this summer’s exam papers would be microchipped in an attempt to combat online leaks, allowing Pearson to track the time, date and location of an exam pack if it was opened prematurely.

This means that the school or exam centre in question can immediately be alerted to the breach, which should make it easier for officials to swiftly identify the perpetrator and contain any potential leak before information is circulated more widely.

Some A-level maths papers were microchipped as part of the pilot, but it is

unclear whether the exam papers that were leaked online had been included in the pilot.

Roughly 60,000 students took Edexcel’s maths A-level, which consisted of three exam papers spread over last week and this week.

This is the first cohort of pupils to take the reformed maths A-level, which was designed to be more challenging and better prepare sixth-form students for university.

Pupils set up a petition to demand “some form of compensation” or “special consideration” after finding the exam “extremely difficult and unreasonable”.

The petition, which last night had accrued over 11,000 signatures, complained that the questions on the Edexcel’s maths A-level papers were “unlike any specimen, past or textbook questions”.

A separate petition claimed that students’ hopes of attending university have been “shattered” thanks to the maths exams.

But Pearson, which owns the exam board, said that students should be “reassured” that grade boundaries are set depending on the difficulty of each exam.

They explained that this “ensures a fair system, so that students of the same ability will be awarded the same grade in different years, even if there are differences in the demand of papers”.

Ofqual, the exams watchdog, uses a system called “comparable outcomes” to ensure that roughly the same proportion of pupils get similar grades each year, and those who are the first to take the new, reformed courses are not at a disadvantage compared to other cohorts.

A Pearson spokesman said: “We are aware that an individual circulated blacked-out images of two exam questions on social media ahead of [Friday’s] A-level maths exam. We are investigating the source of this.

“All students should be reassured we have well-established processes in place to ensure no one will be advantaged or disadvantaged, and this paper will not have to be resat.”

An Ofqual spokesman said they are aware of “allegations of malpractice or wrongdoing in relation to Edexcel’s maths paper” and are working with Pearson to establish the facts.