In what has been called a “f*** up” a dozen second year medicine students were told last weekend that they were given the wrong results for their neuroscience examination.
The exact number of students affected is unclear. The proctors’ office
have reported that thirteen students received incorrect marks, whereas
the initial email from the faculty to second year medics claimed that eleven students were assigned the wrong results.
Jeremy Taylor, Director of Pre-Clinical Studies, wrote to all second year medicine students on 25th May: “It is with great regret that I have to inform you that there was an error in uploading of a small number of the BM part II Neuroscience exam results into the OSS system [Oracle Student System, through which Oxford University examination marks are distributed] on Wednesday evening.
“Yesterday afternoon the Proctors contacted the eleven students that have been materially affected by this error and I apologise to these students for this problem.
“The marks that they achieved in the Neuroscience paper have now been confirmed as the correct ones.
“I can reassure all other students that although the OSS system is not available until the new updated mark sheet is uploaded next week, they do not need to be concerned, as no other outcomes have changed.”
Taylor signed off, “With my sincere apologies.”
The neuroscience exam is taken at the beginning of Trinity Term each year by all second year medics, and is commonly rumoured to be a Guinness Book of World Records contender for having the highest number of facts to learn.
Student reaction to these mistakes has varied. One second year medic, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “[The] marks of some people on one of the papers were wrong and we were told today that eleven people were majorly affected by this, in terms of going from a merit to a normal pass, or from a pass to a fail. I know of one person who lost their distinction as a result of this f*** up with results. It seems a lot of people are angry and it is hoped that the members of the medical school responsible get into big trouble.”
A second year medic from Wadham expressed milder disapproval of the situation: “Exam results are stressful enough already, I really feel for those who thought they’d received merits and told their friends and family and have now been informed that the merits weren’t theirs.”
A spokesman for the University told Cherwell, “Thirteen students initially received incorrectly-reported examination results after an error occurred while some results were being prepared for submission to the Oracle Student System (OSS). The results were taken down the next day when the error was spotted. Each student was contacted directly to clarify their correct results after all candidates’ marks had been thoroughly re-checked. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to all students affected and we now are investigating the original cause of the error. We do know that it was not an error made by the OSS system.”
