Hard-working students had their nerves severely tested when they sat a GCSE exam and found that they had been taught the wrong syllabus.
The St Peter's College, Chelmsford, students turned over their English literature paper to find that they had not studied one of the questions.
They were expecting to write about George Orwell's Animal Farm, but were stunned to find that the set question was on John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
Red-faced staff quickly phoned the AQA examination board to explain the error and were advised to allow the pupils to answer the other remaining question.
Examiners will now award the GCSE grade based on the marks from the attempted question and the course work submitted by pupils.
Janet Wood, a parent of one of the students, said: "It must have been a shock to pupils who have been working towards their exam to find that they couldn't answer one of the questions."
The school immediately sent out letters to parents and apologised for what it called the "unfortunate error".
The letter said: "It is important to know that your child will not be penalised as a result of this."
Head teacher Sally Lynch said that the matter had been dealt with internally.
Published Thursday June 17, 2004
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article