A large number of pupils are complaining over "shocking" guidance given to them ahead of their GCSE biology exam. Separate advice was issued for each of the biology papers (a single biology exam and two combined papers) highlighting topics that would or would not be covered.
However, students have now taken to social media to claim they were given the wrong information by AQA, the country's largest exam board. One Twitter user said children were left "in tears" after sitting papers that were unrelated to what they were expecting. This has been refuted by AQA.
Twitter user Andy Duff wrote: "Could someone find out why @AQA set out guidelines for Mondays GCSE biology paper and then got pupils to sit one unrelated to what they said. Leaving many in tears and potentially ruining their future after they already suffered the worst education in history."
Ree tweeted: "Are you gonna give us a reasoning as to why the exam aids for the exam were not accurate at all. We were told cancer and antibiotics weren't going to be on there but they were. And they were worth more marks on than the required practical which was a major focus please explain."
Another pupil said: "Tell us there will be no questions on cancer to have to answer questions on cancer #shocking."
However, one Twitter user said the information provided was correct. Cath Williams wrote: "I'm a science teacher and the Advanced Information for the 4 different papers was accurate as far as I can see analysing the papers.
"I teach 4 different Yr 11 groups that cover the 4 papers and they were all different in content so had to follow the advanced information carefully."
Replying to some of the complaints online, AQA wrote: "The advance information was accurate, but it looks like you might have been using the advance information for a different biology paper from the one you sat. We’d recommend speaking to your school to make sure you sat the right paper."
