Hundreds of thousands of teenagers are taking public exams England's exams watchdog, Ofqual, has confirmed it is investigating a mistake in a geography AS-level paper.
It is one of six now being looked at by the regulator, which said the series of errors in this year's public exams was "disappointing and unacceptable".Teachers and pupils complained to the BBC about the mistake, in the first question on an AQA exam body paper.
Ofqual has now ordered urgent extra checks by exam bodies on GCSE and A-level papers being taken this term.
At least 88,000 teenagers took the papers concerned.
The six exam papers being investigated cover A-level, AS-level and GCSEs taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, it says. Ofqual says four are AS-levels (which can count towards an A-level) and two are GCSEs.
In the latest example, a diagram showing the flow of a river was mislabelled.
A head of geography in the south of England told the BBC News website: "The question was impossible to answer correctly in my opinion.
"They should cut that question from the paper. Being the first question, it really threw some of the students.
"I contacted the exam board but have had no response to the questions I asked."
Another error The AQA exam body has confirmed the mistake and apologised for it, saying all students would be given full marks for the question. It says the question carried four marks out of 50.
It also said there had been a problem with a diagram on its computing AS-level paper on 7 June, saying: "An arrow in a diagram was shorter than it should have been, which may have confused some candidates".
A spokeswoman said: "We are very sorry for these mistakes and will ensure that no students will be disadvantaged as a result."
The errors affect tens of thousands of students, many of whom will be relying on the results for their university applications.
The head of Ofqual has written to all the exam boards on behalf of the exam regulators in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Protecting students Ofqual's chief executive Glenys Stacey told the exam bodies to make sure measures are in place to deal with any errors that occur.
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End Quote Glenys Stacey Chief Eexecutive, OfqualWe take instances like this very seriously - I am calling on awarding organisations to take steps now to protect students from further disruption and anxiety”
"While the vast majority of question papers taken so far have been free from error, there have been a number of question papers that have included errors," she said.
"We take instances like this very seriously. I am calling on awarding organisations to take steps now to protect students from further disruption and anxiety."The watchdog says that so far, the number of mistakes reported is similar to other years and that in general the exam bodies have a good track record.
It has not yet released the details about two of the six cases being investigated.
The exam boards involved in the other confirmed mistakes say measures are in place which will ensure candidates do not suffer.
The errors on the other AS-level papers involved:
- A maths question which was impossible to answer because not enough information was given (OCR)
- A business studies question which did not give enough information (AQA)
- A multiple-choice biology question which gave several possible answers but not the correct one (Edexcel)
AS-levels are qualifications in their own right but are also taken by teenagers as the first stage of their A-levels.
Some of those who messaged the BBC News website said they were worried the mistakes could cost them a place at university.
'Thousands let down' Natalie Edwards, from Stevenage, told the BBC: "The exam was hard enough without having mistakes on questions that are designed for people to be able to pick up the easier marks. I couldn't work out why I wasn't getting any of the answers in the paper, which caused me to get stressed."
Sarah Streiber, from Wales, said she took both the business and maths papers in which errors appeared, and was hoping to go to university before increased tuition fees are introduced in 2012.
"And now I have potentially lost that chance! Thank you very much to the examiners who have let thousands of us down," she said.
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Jim Sinclair: "We would like to to reassure students procedures are in place to cope with errors"
They add that extra checks are being carried out.
Director of the Joint Council for Qualifications Jim Sinclair said: "Awarding bodies are aware that a small number of questions in this year's exam papers have contained errors and understand the distress this may have caused students.
"Students and parents should be assured that no one will be disadvantaged as a result of these mistakes. Examiners marking the papers are aware of the incidents and will make careful adjustments so that all students receive the marks they deserve."
Ofqual has powers to name exam bodies which make errors, and to direct them to take certain actions to rectify the situation.
Its ultimate sanction is to withdraw recognition from an awarding body - effectively removing its powers to set and mark public exams.
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