The scandal of AQA BUSS2 - Update again, a response from AQA

As we now know, Business Studies is only one of several exams which have been hit by errors in the papers this year - and Ofqual have now asked exam bodies to carry out extra checks on GCSE and A-level papers being taken this term, which should at least be reassuring for the A2 papers still to come.

I have now received a letter from AQA, which I assume has been sent to all centres, with an apology to students and their teachers. They say that they have decided to discount the question and scale up the marks on the rest of the paper to be out of the intended maximum. “During the awarding of grades process, we will look at any impact on the performance of the cohort on this paper.”

They also say they recognise the wider consequences on the rest of the examination, including distress and delay that could be caused to candidates. They suggest that if centres believe there was a particular impact on a candidate or candidates arising from the error that may have affected their overall performance, they submit an application for Special Consideration through their Examinations Officer - they say ‘you are the best judge of any such impact.’ They don’t give any indication of a deadline for this application, which my school’s Examinations Officer advises is usually within 7 days of the exam - I assume that they have extended that deadline in the circumstances.

Whether or not we decide to ask for Special Consideration, I will be asking the exam board for copies of my students’ scripts for BUSS2 (not the originals) as soon as the results are released on 18th August, in order to see how they coped, and how their responses have been marked. I strongly recommend this course of action; it allows teachers not only to learn from the way in which students have performed under exam pressure, which is really useful self-administered INSET, but also to see how their answers have been marked and any comments by the examiner on the script. If appropriate, it will then be possible to request that the paper be remarked, by a more senior examiner.

As we know, this has become a very high profile issue and featured on many news programmes yesterday. You may like to listen in to a discussion on Victoria Derbyshire’s Radio5Live programme yesterday (move the timer bar to 01.11 to hear the start of it) of how the exams are to be dealt with featuring students, a representative from OFQUAL - and Jim Riley!