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Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:41 pm
by anotherdad
"An investigation was launched into Buckinghamshire's 11-Plus exams, after a technical blunder saw some pupils allocated more time for the test."

There was an error in the timings of one paper at "a few" centres. News article here:

https://www.mix96.co.uk/news/local/2709 ... xtra-time/

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:49 pm
by Guest55
They would say it's been fairly dealt with, wouldn't they? I'm not sure they can really be confident it won't have made a difference.

Bucks own erasergate ..

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:49 pm
by anotherdad
Reading the published response, it looks to me as if they've performed some sort of adjustment to level the playing field to try to ensure that those students mistakenly granted the extra time don't benefit from it.

The Midlands had eraser-gate this year, is this Bucks' clock-gate?

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:50 pm
by anotherdad
What a cross-post :D

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:59 pm
by Sally-Anne
I heard about this on the day of the test, and picked up a few more bits of information later.

Apparently the MP3 version of the test was slightly longer for one of the papers. I'm not sure it was as much as 5 minutes though, and most schools use the CD version as far as I'm aware. I don't think the effect will have been huge.

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:01 pm
by anotherdad
A possible problem with timings was reported here on the day of the test:

https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum ... 0&start=10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In this case, Mostlymum reported a problem that seemingly resulted in less time being allocated, not more. This was at a partner school test location. The problem reported in the local press applies to "a few" centres.

Looking at Sally-Anne's post above, is it something as simple as discrepancies between tests run from CD and those run from MP3? It's GL's own statement that specifies five minutes.

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:08 pm
by Guest55
anotherdad wrote:What a cross-post :D
Great minds :lol:

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:58 pm
by lea2124
I'm absolutely fuming about this. How is this acceptable. How am I as a parent ever supposed to believe they corrected the problem! If my son scores 120 then I'll certainly be mentioning this! Disgraceful. I really didn't need this extra worry. It's such an awful test anyway but then they're so incompetent that this then happens too. :( :shock:

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:07 pm
by Sally-Anne
Lea2124, please try to calm down and not worry, even though I know this is a stressful 24 hours for you.

GL Assessment and BCC are both very professional in their approach to the 11+. There have been some far more serious incidents in the past (where neither GL nor BCC were at fault) that eventually turned out to be storms in an extremely small teacup.

They will both have reviewed any possible impact from the error very thoroughly. It isn't obvious to me that adjustments needed to be made as a result of this error, but if adjustments were deemed necessary, they will not have baulked at that.

Re: Technical error in Bucks exam - news article

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:18 pm
by lea2124
Yes, deep breaths required lol. I had literally just read it on the bucks herald website and copied the link to post on here but it had been posted already.

Obviously if DC passes it won't matter but if he scores 118, 119 or 120 I think my husband and I would require proof and evidence that our son hasn't been disadvantaged by this error. If the extra 5 mins was on the non verbal paper that's a substantial increase of time where my son only got 30 seconds per question. But the children could have answered an extra 10 questions in that time.

How do you think this will work with reviews and appeals? I think more people will appeal/review.