The Victorian education minister says he is disappointed with the state’s exam body after a group of Chinese language students were given the wrong VCE paper.
The Chinese Second Language Advanced (SLA) exam was held on 6 November, before the Chinese Second Language (SL) exam, which is a significantly easier subject.
On Monday the education minister, Ben Carroll, confirmed six students had been incorrectly given the SL exam, labelling it a “traumatic” experience for those who were affected.
He said the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) had been asked to complete a full investigation into the incident.
Posts claiming to contain information from the SL exam, which was not due to be held until Wednesday, have since appeared on social media.
“Six students inadvertently and should not have received the … exam that they received,” Carroll said. “Obviously they’ve just been handed the wrong exam.
“I am disappointed – these stuff-ups should not have occurred in the first place [and] that’s why I’ve asked for a full review.”
Carroll said the mistake had been “rectified” and that “no student would be punished”, adding: “This should not have occurred in the first place.”
“I want to reassure those six students and their families they will not be impacted by this – we have to ensure this won’t be repeated next year,” he said.
“It’s traumatic getting the wrong exam to begin with … … it’s their task and my task and the VCAA’s task to make sure … when they get there the exam it’s as smooth a process as it can be and doesn’t add undue stress.”
Carroll said he had met with the VCAA on several occasions and would meet with them again today to ensure students weren’t impeded.
He said academics had approached him about the VCE exams.
He said he has asked the VCAA to partner with academic institutions in the writing, designing and vetting of exams.
It’s not the first time this exam season that the VCAA has made headlines. Three errors have been identified in this year’s VCE maths exams, prompting calls for the education department to urgently improve oversight during the design of papers to prevent future mistakes.
The VCAA said it accepted “full responsibility” for this year’s errors, which did not meet the “high standards” the community rightly expected. All students will receive a correct mark for the mistakes.
The body confirmed to Guardian Australia that its board chair would work with the department of education to conduct a comprehensive review of the vetting and proofing process for exams in light of the errors.
The state opposition’s education spokesperson, Jess Wilson, has called for the paper to be reissued, labelling it “yet another exam blunder”.
“Exams are stressful enough for students, without these continued mistakes,” she said.
Students took to social media to express their frustration, with some fearing they would be disadvantaged by their peers having completed an easier exam.
“It might even affect everyone else because their Chinese study score will just be very high, and therefore get a better ATAR,” one student wrote.
“Everyone who did the actual SLA exam will get disadvantaged as the SL exam is much easier and will obviously get a much better score,” another wrote.
VCE exams are marked by at least two assessors and scaled by a subject’s difficulty and competition, which creates a bell curve.
Considering it was only a small sample-size affected, it was unlikely the error would have a significant impact on student study scores.
But students questioned why the VCAA had not made a public statement about the error, causing additional confusion.
Multiple students said on social media they had contacted their Chinese teachers and VCE coordinators who had confirmed the mistake occurred, assuring them they wouldn’t be affected by the error.
VCE exams run in Victoria until Wednesday, 15 November, with results to be released the following month.
