Matsec board reassures candidates over exam

The MATSEC board said yesterday that no candidates in the intermediate level English examination held on May 10 would be put at a disadvantage because of "ambiguity" in the examination paper.

The board was referring in a statement to complaints made about the ambiguous instructions in the examination paper.

The issue was raised in parliament on Monday and Tuesday, with opposition education spokesman Evarist Bartolo saying students had been confused by various shortcomings in the paper and Labour MP Carmelo Abela pointing out various mistakes in the questions.

Education Minister Louis Galea replied that the mistakes were unacceptable, and that the board was considering what steps to take.

Yesterday, the board said that a letter was being sent out to all candidates who sat the examination, regretting the ambiguity and giving them its reassurance.

The board said the markers` panel would implement equitable criteria/marking schemes to cover all answers given by the candidates.

The effect of potential stress would also be taken into consideration, the board said.

Every care would be taken to ensure that students would not be penalised for errors caused by the ambiguous instructions in the paper.

Additional steps were also to be taken to avoid similar problems in the future, the board said.

In a statement, the students` body Pulse said the increase in the cost to sit for the MATSEC examinations in recent months was not reflected in higher quality. In fact, it had deteriorated.

Pulse said students had made sacrifices and endured pressure to pass their examinations and it was therefore a shame that the board drew up defective examination papers.

The Forum Zghazagh Laburisti also noted the mistakes, saying the increase in the cost of the examination had not led to improvement.

It also asked why other student organisations had remained silent on the issue.

Mr Abela said in parliament last night that yesterday`s French Matsec examination paper contained mistakes. The students were informed and even asked to sign a declaration that they had been so informed.

This was the third time that mistakes had been noted in Matsec examination papers, Mr Abela said.

He wondered what the Nationalist Party exponents, who had called on the education minister`s resignation when a "cut and paste" mistake had been spotted in an examination paper under Labour, had to say now.

Mr Abela said it would be in order for both the minister of education and the university rector to give an explanation.