Exam resit rejected as errors found on higher paper 2

JUNIOR CERT BUSINESS:THERE IS "no question" of the Junior Certificate business studies exam being rescheduled despite three errors on the afternoon paper, the State Exams Commission (SEC) insisted last night.

The error, blamed by some teachers on lack of resources for those setting the exam, is a serious embarrassment for the SEC.

The mistakes caused “alarm and delay” for thousands of students, according to the Business Studies Teachers Association of Ireland.

The second Junior Cert higher paper featured a question on cash flow that students could not reconcile due to an error on the forecast sheet that accompanied the exam. The association is preparing a report on the issue for the State Exams Commission.

“This paper was a disaster,” said Derek Lynch, secretary of the Business Studies Teachers Association.

“There were errors all over the place. The figure for April on the cash flow question (6) didn’t add up. Students wasted a lot of time trying to get this one out and it will have had a knock-on effect on their timing for the rest of the paper.”

However, the SEC is not considering a resit, according to a statement issued last night. “The SEC operates within the core principle that candidates cannot be disadvantaged as a result of an error on an examination paper,” a spokesperson said.

“The impact of today’s error on candidates answering will be taken into account by the chief examiner when finalising the marking scheme for this examination.”

Mr Lynch, who teaches in Synge Street CBS, said some of his students had spent too long trying to resolve the error.

Two further mistakes created more “unnecessary confusion”, say business teachers.

A question on credit sales and bookkeeping featured two businesses with the same address. This would have posed problems for students as marks were awarded for putting the correct address on correspondence as part of the task, subject convenors say.

A third error cropped up on question 4, on profit and loss accounts. The dates mentioned in the question did not tally.

Invigilators had notification of this error prior to the exam and candidates were notified in the exam halls.

More than 30,000 students sat Junior Cert business studies yesterday, making it one of the most popular electives on the junior cycle. The morning paper was broadly well-received.

Ivan O’Callaghan of Pobalscoil Rosmini in Drumcondra described both papers as “easy” and “approachable”. He played down the errors on paper 2, remarking that his students “did not make much of it”.

However, Marguerite Norris, Dublin chairwoman of the Business Studies Teachers Association, said that the “phones were hopping” after yesterday afternoon’s paper.

“This was a very disconcerting situation for students around the country,” she said. “We have had a lot of queries about it.”