Finalists sitting a Sociological Theory examination yesterday were “surprised” when they were presented with a paper nearly identical to the one sat the previous year, as a result of a “clerical error”.
One student, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cherwell, “The paper was identical to that of last year, strangely enough with the exception of one question. I noticed this a few minutes into the exam and asked to speak to the examiner, who told me ‘I wouldn’t know’.
“20 minutes in I still felt uneasy with the situation so asked to speak to him again, at which point he said there had been a ‘clerical error’ but it had been decided we should just proceed. There was no public announcement made, so the other students weren’t told anything.”
The papers are identical except for the third question, which reads “Can social norms change over time?” in yesterday’s paper, compared with “To what extent do social norms serve a rational purpose?” which was asked last year.
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The two question papers are identical, with the exception of the third question.
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One tutor reportedly called the situation a “serious error”, but reassured students that the exam board would “decide what to do”.
Other finalists noticed the similarities between the papers, with one commenting, “Didn’t think Finals was gonna get any more exciting.”
The student speaking to Cherwell continued, “My main feeling is one of surprise. The whole exam progress seems very meticulously organised so I don’t see how something like this would have slipped through. I’m also surprised more decisive action wasn’t taken during the exam, the confusion they left us in wasn’t exactly helpful.
“I have contacted my Senior Tutor who has assured me it will be looked into and I’m confident they will find out what happened and deal with it, although I’m not sure how they can ever mark this in a fair way, considering some would have practised these questions or even discussed them in revision classes.”
A second year at Wadham told Cherwell, “This situation is entirely unfair, given that certain students may be put at an advantage over others because they have essentially seen the paper before. It also shows the examiners to be highly incompetent – I can’t believe they would be so lax.”
OUSU Vice-President for Access & Academic Affairs, David Messling, told Cherwell, “In an examination system as huge and complex as Oxford’s, errors will crop up from time to time, but a major oversight of this kind should never occur – it undermines the examination and is unfair on students who have spent months working towards these papers.
“We trust that the University will investigate this issue and take steps to ensure it does not occur again. With the ever increasing technology available to examiners, it seems highly unlikely that a comparison of past and current papers cannot be built into the process.”
PPE Administrator, Wendy Wilkin, was unavailable for comment when contacted by Cherwell on Thursday night.
