MATSEC admits Chemistry A level paper mistake

@ Gervais Marcel Cishahayo... being a b.sc biology and chemistry student I can assure you that I was lectured for four entire years ( and still counting...) to pay the UTMOST and COMPLETE attention during problem-solving in chemistry, since one tiny mistake would totally change my calculation, or organic synthesis for that matter. At the bare minimum, I expect those who set my exam paper to pay the UTMOST attention in setting it up! Since life is mostly about a give and take balance, I expect that what I give is equal to what I take! I can totally comprehend the students' anger at this mistake, since you would have known how to work out the problem with 1-butanol, but having read ethanol would put you off track. This would then affect the rest of your paper since your mind would keep going back to the problem, which makes you lose time and therefore... marks. Sure, as the italians put it, sbagliare e` umano, persistere e` da ignoranti. But is this the first mistake? Is this the ONLY mistake in this year's matriculation and o-level series of exams? The crowd utters.. No.

This year Matsec is over doing it .. Systems, Chemistry A-Level, Maths O-Level, the list is endless .. whoever suggests that an alternative approach should be done instead of giving us the marks for Matsec's mistake should start studying Chemistry A-Level standard and tell me what it feels like .. anyways I better continue studying just in case Matsec does another mistake in my next exam or most of the paper is not in the syllabus .. you can't take anythin for granted uwx

PS:

Sry for spelling mistakes I was a bit in a hurry. XD

I sat for the O Level Mathematics Paper a week ago and, as everybody know, the exam paper was horribly difficult for certain students. I attend St Aloysius College and although I am not one of the brightest I can assure you that even the most accademically advanced pupils found it very difficult. It is a shame that MATSEC is doing such a thing to us especially for those people who wanted to continue Maths at A level. I seriously demand an explenation to this and I hope that the man who sat up this paper would in some way excuse himself in any way possible. Yu have devestated peoples' lives. Shame on You

Yes Mario Cachia i had the same problem. Nobody I know managed to find a way to avoid using a quadratic equation :/ Maybe there's some syllabus loophole

Just to point out the fact that there was another mistake in this paper. There was a calculation in one of the questions which could only be worked out using quadratic equations, which are not part of the syllabus for Chemistry A Level

MATSEC should revise the system and focus on quality not quantity, this is only leading for the students' level to decrease.

Aren't exams suppose to show how much the student knows?

I would like to comment on paper 2 of the O Level Maths. It is a shame on who prepared this paper- you are totally destroying the youths self confidence by that type of paper. Now we are hearing that the pass mark will be decreased- what sort of reasoning is this- the harm would already have been done. When we used to do London or Oxford papers these were set in a fair way- Matsec papers are set in a way that if they are hard the pass mark is decreased and if the paper is easy, the pass mark is raised. What sort of reasoning is this? Only in malta!!!

The mistake in the paper might be evened out by giving the marks to everybody but in the practical paper there is an ongoing injustice since not everybody sits for the same paper. My son is resitting chem and apparently there are three different groups. My son's group takes him into the second week of June. Surely they could have been all held earlier not some students are more lucky than others. Seeing that they started exams end of April the students who have earlier sessions have a better deal. This is an injustice.

The bottom line is that these homegrown exams evidently do not inspire confidence in any of us and should be given the boot without further ado. What was wrong, may I ask, with the London and Oxford 'O' and 'A' Levels of our days? And why place unnecessary pressure on our children by obliging them to sit for all their 'O's (or 'A's) at one sitting, even if it's just to better a grade? Konna ahjar meta konna aghar, ghandek tghid!! The quicker the current Education Minister looks into this and saves us families from further aggravation, the better, please.

It seems that examiners in Malta are out to show how much they know rather than test how much students know. Perhaps these 'mistakes' are the only way to cut their egos down to size !

Who sets the MATSEC papers?.....moreover who checks them???
With reference to the the MATHEMATICS O'LEVEL PAPER 2A i would like to make the following points.

Why do we teachers spend three weeks teaching Quadratic Graphs in 4th Form to get a Cubic Interpretation in the actual exam ??? Paper 2A is the only paper in which you are able to test Quadratics. Note that Cubics are covered but they are the "detail" not the core at O'Level. Besides presenting them with an almost straight line section to the cubic is not really a clever idea!

Why do we spend another 3 weeks teaching Sine and Cosine Formula? Again Paper 2A is the only paper in which you can test the topic. What does Matsec do? They present a simple trigonometry question ..... however using Surds...Surprise..... Cat in the Bag !!! Hey Surds have been out since 2000. Now the Sec will surely argue that the theory in volved is simpler and a square root of 3 should not be a hurdle and i agree however you know... it was a tease..... as the O'level students are not accustomed to it . Even Intermediate students find surds cunbersome at the begining......Towards the end ,the question does get messy.

The question about the door arch way was a very good question however very blunt in the latter part of the question asking the student to form an equation and solving it.... aren't these normally stepped .....

The probablity question...Haven't you been spoonfeeding the student enough for the past 8 years giving the tree...I keep warning the students that the examiner is not bound to give you the the tree, however seeing that throughout the papers the tree has always been given in the past years few take your word.....well surprise.....or are you expecting probability to be done using arguments?
The SEC should try leaving out the patterns of partial fractions in the Intermediate Paper...you will get the same effect as that of the probability tree......

The question on functions Number 10 started well however the second part of the question was made harder by the way it was worded.....

The question on Volumes could have been made easier by giving them the height of the
water. Again even though SEC might argue that this situation was easier and to some extent i do agree, the fact that there was an "abstract" element to the question will give students more food for thought....again going for "detail".

The question on statistics ....calculating the median will give two numbers in two groups to which the average is found. I for one do teach my students to treat odd sized sets and even sized sets differently however i am quite sure that alot of students will calculate the median by considering the second goup only ! .......again "detail"

And to top it all up the very last question.....If attempted that is to say .....couldnt there have been a better line with workable intercepts...why make life more difficult...shouldn't plotting by the intercepts be encouraged when doing pheasable regions? ...did you want to test the students knowledge of the topic ... Students who worked using intercepts which of course takes up a lot of time during class had problems with the scale...Agin " detail"

So to sum it all up ( excuse me for being long in my analysis)

I am a teacher that favours the exam being difficult testing difficult topics. I don't like surprises. Surprises are for Mathematics Olympiads, not the D-DAY. Or at least keep them to a minimum.

Mathematics is becoming more and more of an integral subject in many courses....

It is a credit in the Commerce, Engineering, Architecture,B.SC, beleive it or not Pharmacy courses at University. I would assume that people teaching at this level are finding it very hard
to teach these courses to their students and so maybe they are trying to raise the bar...only...in the wrong manner in my opinion. Clearly there is a battle between the three sections UNI, 6th Form and Secondary.....with the politics playing a part...


Between the year 2002 and 2006 the Matsec set a trend of Papers that were Student Friendly. This trend in my opinion has been changed since last year.
Now myself I do agree with the approach of prepare students in a holistic manner , and I must praise SEC in not becoming a business institution with stereotyped questions, however you cannot do this overnight .....

@Matthew Borg

Dear Mr Matthew Borg
I am sure that you appreciate that I have mentioned the fact that I have been, was, am and will be a student... and a teacher and that I sympatize with the students, the paper setters and the markers... But I am not out here to defend whoever made the mistake because I am sure they can take care of themselves!

I just do not agree with your assertion that "... such mistakes are never ever performed by foreign examination boards!".

I have studied and worked abroad and sat for international examinations and I can assure you that maltese examiners are no less capable and do not have the monopoly of errors and that these can happen with foreign examination boards too! Do you need prove of this too! may be my names and surnames can convince you that I am talking from experience.

But again Signur Borg "ERRARE HUMANUM EST" !

Mr/Ms D Mangion;
First of all I fail to see the relevance of the University debate to the argument in question. MATSEC was not given the slightest mention during the debate so how we university students (and proud may I add) managed to play a part in this mistake by the supposedly competant authority confuses me.

But it seems that all is in vain, as the Matsec Board always seems to surprise the students, with some fault or another, year after year...

So, despite not bringing up this issue during the political debate at university, which I find would have been rather out of place as there was no member of the Matsec board present to answer such questions... and this demanding issue should not be delt with POLITICALLY...
It is incorrect to say that individuals, teachers, parents and the lot have failed to bring up such important issues of irresponsibility from the Matsec's side to people in authority, but the question is, Has it all been in vain?.... and I guess everyone knows the answer to this...

M Cassar, the problem is that course descriptions in Malta tend to be very "ad hoc". Why is it that the MD course has this requirement? The whole University system needs to be given a thorough looking over. Just look at the students in the LLB/LLD course... they have to sit for the _SAME_ exams twice or three times over, something that is expressly forbidden in the credits system, just because some lecturers think that that is the way it should be done.
I am a postgraduate student in a foreign university at the moment, and this attitude -- mistakes in A level papers, exams meant to find out what the student does not know, defying university regulations, etc. -- would never, ever be tolerated anywhere else.

Mark Brincat, it says so in the course description. The A levels and Intermediates have to be obtained all in one sitting, and you can only do 3 resits (1 A level, 1 intermediate and SOK). Therefore if you don't get at least 3 Bs (Biology, Chemistry and one Intermediate apart from SOK) you repeat or give up. That's why the students will have so much pressure etc and mistakes are not acceptable.

Being a past student and passed through all this pressure myself, I sympathize with the students here and see this error as another unfair move from Matsec.

But remember, that when there was a political debate at university all the "Maltese Gahan" did was lots of "boohs" and "clapping" and trying to ridicule the politicians. Anyway everyone knows what happened.

Why didn't anyone mention such important matters, instead of shouting phrases "iva int" like idiots?! This is not the first time a student felt Matsec is unfair, am I right ?

@ D Mangion:

Obviously, I agree with you on the fact that the board should resign with regards this fracas... it is totally unacceptable that an error of such magnitude is published within an exam paper. I'm not denying as well that a overhaul of the current curriculum is necessary either. Having sat for my A Levels last year, I can safely tell you that some of the things that I had to study for them were utterly ridiculous, and an emphasis on more important aspects of the subject/s was not given through the syllabi and, subsequently, the exam papers. However, you are twisting your words in your 2nd argument, as you did not mention this aspect of educational reform in the prior one. From what I can gather, the educational reform that you point to is clearly the introduction of the reception class; something which would have had no effect whatsoever on the mistake that was published in this paper. Even if, for the sake of argument, the MLP was governing now, first and foremost it wouldn't be the government's fault for this publication of this error - it would remain that of the same MATSEC board that sat the paper.

Also, I feel that speaking about the University debate over here - and believe me, I can write a thesis on this subject - is totally unnecessary and out of point... it has nothing to do with the case at hand, i.e. the failings of the MATSEC board (and indeed the entire system!). Such a subject should not be political.

Some people are so lucky....they can get away with anything. I work in the private sector. One mistake in one quote....and the company would have to carry the burden. Two mistakes...and the employee pays.

Why aren't resits accepted for the MD course anyway?

I did the chemistry A level last year, and I can fully understand the pressure that the students face as they sit down and know that one mistake could mean not entering the medical course (since the resits don't count and the student will either have to repeat a year or enter another course). These mistakes are unacceptable and I think Matsec should refund the money for the exam! An to all the people trying to justify this error by saying mistakes happen, I'd like to see their reaction when there's a mistake in their paycheque, or a mistake in an exam that will determine the rest of their lives. The utter ignorance of certain people baffles me...

@Mario Borg,
Let me first make things clear. I am not an MLP disciple. I just simply try to be coherent in my mode of thinking, always. My menality does not shift into election mode..never..whatever the media around me says. My point is this. We all know that a total rehaul of our education system is long overdue. Long long overdue. This includes elemetary eduation, parents' approach, the issue of streaming, sports in the curriculum, MATSEC, University...the list is endless.
Yet at the first availability of someone who dared mention some form of change in the education system, you shot him down. Let us not be hypocrates. We all know that the major cannons against Sant and co were due to the suggested reception class. I am not saying that his reform would have done miracles. I am neither saying that Dr Louis Galea was a failure as minister of Education. Far from it. But it think that it was obscene from the PN media machine to turn the education issue into a political ball; and yes you at the University played their game.
Think ! Thinks always! Think all years! Most of those complaining below will forget all about this issue come next election. They will swallow what's given to them in Mass meetings and later continue complaining about the medicrity of the Maltese way of living, without changing anything.
Honestly...do you find it fair that someone can get away with such a gross negligent mistake?
Professionalism implies that there are situations were mistakes are NOT tolerated. That's why some salaries are so high. This was a case in point. The owner/s of this mistake must be fired. They should take up gardening ! There thay can make some mistakes without causing so much distress. Let us at least agree on this. Whether you're red, blue,green or black.

It is quite obvious that some of the people writing here don't have children at this stage of their lives and have no idea what stresses these young people (and their families) go through - and are expected to complete the syllabus in 19 months - not 2 years! Unlike their counterparts in the UK or other foreign countries, if you are not a student, teacher or parent of a student then I fail to see that you can have any idea of what the situation is currently like. Mistakes are regrettable and I agree anyone can make a mistake, but as someone else said if someone had bothered to actually work the paper, this error would have been picked up. We are after all paying for these exams is this too much to ask?

In a country where so much emphasis is placed on education and academic results this is totally unacceptable at this level. The whole system could be made so much more student friendly, but then why would anyone want to make it easy for the students? Heaven forbid!!!

And by the way my children are most certainly not "coddled" the expression is actually "molly coddled".

Furthermore, D Mangion, the university students at the debate you are talking about have every right to express their opinions, whatever they may be, but I would like to point out that these are only a small representation of the students, bearing in mind that university students that were there had already taken their A levels, it would only be a small representation of 6th form students and it has nothing to do with this argument!

For me it's unacceptable. I wonder how many people actually proofread the paper before the exam was held.

To avoid anyone from being negatively affected by these 'free' 15 marks (with respect to paper 1), MATSEC should give each student a percentage of these 15 marks depending on how the student did in the rest of the questions. If someone got 80% of the correct questions right, then he should be given 80% of the 15 marks

a short comment to Mr. D Mangion.
As the Maltese saying goes: thallatx il-hass mal-xxxxx

What is wrong is wrong and always wrong.

Mr Gervais Marcel Cishahayo and Mr Claude Sciberras ,
Let's hope Matsec organisers do not take all this as you seem to ;as simple ''nonsense'' and ''bruhaha''!
If so the serious lack of professionalism will just continue!
True ''anyone can make a mistake'' but the questions in an exam paper are not supposed to be checked by just ''anyONE''!
The question is whether or not the ''bruhaha'' of all concerned will add weight and pressure to the MATSEC board to clean up their act once and for all!

Standards have risen and so much more is expected of our students. Very demoralising for them having to face exam papers with notable mistakes. Is anyone accountable for this?

I think it's about time that radical changes take place with regards to the Matsec board and Matsec exams. It's long overdue in fact! Why are we subjecting our precious children to this ridiculous pressure? What are we trying to do - destroy them? And then we are shocked if our youth turn to drugs and alcohol to escape reality! I think as parents we need to really put pressure on this handful of people who are putting all this useless burden on our teenagers - for what? For example, why do students have to sit for all exams in one sitting, in one month? Can't students do some exams in Form 4 and some others in the following January? And why are the exams so ridiculously difficult - such as Maltese, for example? The recent Maths O'level is another case in point, where students were literally crying during the exam because even the 'A' standard students had never encountered such difficult problems in Maths! What are we trying to prove - how smart the Matsec board are? Shame on you all.

Most contributors are mentioning the Chemistry A Level Paper. My daughter sat for the Pure Maths A Level examination last Saturday and I can assure you all, this paper was just as stressful. It looked as though the examination was over after the first hour as many students walked out of the examination hall in large numbers. Some were even crying, others were shattered, disappointed and sad.

Although my daughter was well prepared she too found the paper to be very difficult. My daughter loves Maths and she had got a grade 1 in her '0' Level. She had worked all the past papers of previous examinations however none were so hard to work out. All her teachers confirm that she is a very good Maths student. She worked so hard for this exam and I'm sure many students did too.

We often hear that the country needs more students to enter university. Sometimes I doubt whether this statement is true or not as reality shows that paper setters are making it more difficult every year for our students to further their studies at University level. I cannot understand why we test students for what they don't know rather than for what they know!

Can the authorities possibly look into all this as the situation is getting out of hand and proving to be extremely unfair and hard on our children.

@ D Mangion

What a ridiculous and pathetic argument. May I remind you that at the infamous University debate, the students were not allowed to ask any questions whatsoever to the candidates as they had run out of time. You are technically also blaming the students, who you assume to all be Nationalist, indirectly stating that it's their fault that this mistake cropped up becuase University students like me - seeing that they don't have a vote!!! - voted in the current government. On a personal level, I have nothing against those who voted for the Opposition (allahares!), but when such comments emerge, I feel baffled beyond belief.

@ Gervais Marcel Cishahayo

As a student and teacher, I'd expect you to understand more than anyone else why this is so scandalous!! Place yourself in the students' shoes - don't you think that you would have reacted and felt the same way? I would agree with your argument that "he who does not make a mistake should throw the first stone" on a general basis, but when this comes to state examinations, exams that are set by our Professors at University, any error that is found is absolutely unforgivable. Also, this is not the first time that such a farcical event has happened - many students who have sat for their A Levels have found many a mistake within their exam papers on a regular basis; although none of them have been as grevious as these. Therefore, how can one sympathise with the examination setter/s in this regard?!? I'm sure that such mistakes are never ever performed by foreign examination boards!

Should they give the full marks of this question to all candidates or shall it be completely omitted and raise the other marks with 6.383% to make up for the marks of this question?

For eighteen months, I supported my son with private lessons in Pure Maths (A level). Over this period, he attended Sixth Form and was doing well in this subject. He was working papers from past years and was confident about the exam he sat for last Saturday (10th May). When I went to pick him up, I was there 15 minutes before time and couldn't help listening on to the other students as they were walking out of the examination. Most of them were panic stricken and some of the girls came out crying. My heart sank when my son came out looking sick and said he never saw anything like this in previous papers. My cry to the Matsec board is : why do you have to pressure these students with papers that are becoming harder and harder? Why do you try to catch out the students on what they don't know, rather on what they do? Why is the level of exams such as London so much easier? Why do we always have to be so special? The same applies to the Systems of Knowledge examination. Most students were NOT prepared for such questions. Who are the bright guys who want to prove how brilliant they are by producing such tough papers?

Why am I not surprised? First the mess in the SOK paper, now this?

Maths Advanced was just as a mess, Paper 1 being unusually hard, and Paper 2 very easy. Normally its the other way around...

I fail to understand why all this bruhaha about a mistake in the Chemistry paper or any paper for that matter!
While any mistake is regrettable and corrective action should be undertaken to make sure that students won't be victimised (and warding the alloted mark being an acceptable compromise, s/he who does not (sin) make a mistake should cast the first stone...

But of course a better checking multiple levels mechanism should be established to ensure that these mistakes are minimised, because even though this can only be an objective, they can never be completely eliminated in all the examination papers!

But again as we know, this checking can become a pandora box and a threat to the presumed secrecy that is supposed to surround the examination paper until the day when it is administered.

I do not know any of the authors of the mistake and they do not know me either... But having been a student and a teacher, I sympatise with both the students and the examination paper setter(s) and by extension to the markers. Please, let us stop procastinating and pointing accusing finger when the remaining 3 (at least) point at ourselves, if not for more serious shortcomings!

Gervais Marcel Cishahayo
Geophysicist, Student & Teacher

What a load of nonsense... Whilst understanding that such mistakes should be avoided I agree with Mr Papagiorcopulo that a mistake is a mistake and anyone can make one. On the other hand it is extremely exagerated to speak about mental distress and wastage of time etc. We often speak about our educational institutions churning out students who are only capable academically and nothing else. Problem solving and dealing with stress is as important (if not more) than academic performance and therefore a student who panics because he/she lost 6 marks on a question should be failed anyway. I bet none of you would want someone panicking on you when you are all opened up on an operation table because the doctor panicked because someone else made some mistake... Let us be realistic, rational and put things in their right context. having said that, please smarten up Matsec.

Dear Mr. Papagiorcopulo, if you go back to your student days you will realize that 6 marks are more than enough to scale the student from a D to a C or from a C to a B. For those students who have spent this last year studying to achieve the highest mark possible even the difference between a B and an A could be worthy of note.

Our coddled youngsters as you put it have spent the past 2 years preparing for these 3 hours. And in question 7, worth not 6 marks, but 6% of the final mark (as determined from the total paper 1, paper 2 and paper 3). Therefore on paper this question might well have had the nice label of 20 marks of more. Much more than enough to justify the student spending at least 30 minutes trying to figure out. The inability to do so, without verification from authorities can diminish, or even crush the confidence the student might have managed to retain, amongst the tension and stress from these exams (remembering that it might mean the inability to pursue ones dreams).

Obviously the wasted time and loss of confidence will as a result impinge on the capabilities of the said students to answer the rest of the paper as well as they could have. This obviously also doe not include the fact that they still had paper 2 and 3 to sit, paper 2 in fact was being done most probably in the afternoon when still the students where unaware of the mistake that anyone can make.

However the MATSEC board is not 1 but many, and while we can accept the mistake of one, such an important institution cannot be tolerated to make such mistakes.

Regarding Mr. Busuttil's comments I cannot find anywhere in which he blames the government for everything. In fact I believe you are using this to detract from the whole point in question. I think Mr. Busuttil wrote with passion, as in fact seem to be your comments regarding government employees.
Speaking about 'making mountains out of mole hills". It seems that this situation is much better described as 'the tip of the iceberg', or hopefully 'the straw which breaks the camel's back' (finally).

But of course this is just my opinion.

@Niki Papagiorcopulo.

We've had it with Mistakes/ misprints, confusing questions and Ridiculously confusing Exam questions, of topics we have knowledge about yet are too hard for us to, because of those Twists, topic combinations and tricks, which turn an exam into 3 hours of hell.

Coddling our youngsters? Ha- what a lame joke, compared to what you did in "your" time, Degrees are now A levels mate.

Coddling our youngsters? I know people who got F's in UOM papers, but B's in the London papers. So go look up coddling in a dictionary and correct your own little Mistake.

Mr Papagiorcopulo, may I just remind you that one mark makes all the difference between an B grade and a C grade. That difference in grade could ruin the chances of a student to pursue the course of medice or other courses for that matter. So yes, I believe that a whole six marks are capable of causing a stir in the students and as I said before, also be of detriment to his performance throughout the whole paper.

As to the point Mr Piccinino raised, I also believe that invigilators are close to useless; they chat, tap away on their mobiles, click clack away on their heels and basically are a complete nuisance most of the time. Of course one cannot do without them, but I also thing that they should have an idea of the subject being sat for and also be ready to cooperate with the students. If they had acted appropriately today and truly called a MATSEC official, this whole mess could probably have been rectified immediately.

Dear student victims,
Next time that there's a political debate at the University, try to be smarter than your predecessors of this year and bring up this issue to the politicians, rather than poke fun on a hypothetic suggestion for an education reform.
Just a few months ago I was of the impression that you were sooo happy with your education system. What's the matter now ? Have you discovered America ?
Oh by the way...in Malta no government employee has ever been fired for making a mistake. Only those working in the private sector are expected to be perfect.

If I remember well, the budget stated that in the next few yrs many more students will be furthering their education

Is making these exam papers this hard a chance to make those students give up now?

Personally i am one of those who sat for the maths A level last Saturday and found the paper to be much harder when compared to all the other past papers I worked out beforehand! Sitting there for 3 hours at a stretch made me 'give up' in ever reaching a level where i would feel prepared! Do the government and MATSEC board share the same opinion on students furthering their studies here in Malta? Or do they really think that 17-18yr olds can answer papers like maths and chemistry??

Mr. Niki Papagiorcopulo

" I find it hard to believe that a question of 6 marks would cause students to panic so much. I think they did quite well- getting 6 marks for nothing! "

in response to this Mr. Niki Papagiorcopulo, it is not the mark allocation which panics students however it is the concept of not knowing a mechanism which leads one to self doubt and results in a decrease in both morale and self confidence. As far as getting 6 marks for nothing that is an empty comment as i'm sure you know those 6 marks are worthless as every candidate got them hence they are of no advantage. The average mark and grade bench marks will shift in accordance with this 6 mark increment therefore resulting in no net gain.

First of all, I have no idea how MATSEC could not have realised that there was a mistake. "ethanol" was first written in the question itself, and then repeated yet another time in another part of the question. Secondly, i wasted approximately 50 minutes trying to work out all possible combinations of mechanisms and reactions which could be taking place in order to figure out a solution, since at first i assumed that it could not have been a mistake (since it was repeated twice). This not only wasted my time but i was also shocked, since it was a question of 15 marks and i couldn't figure out what was going on. It is also not fair on those students like me who figured out that the reagent should have been butan-1-ol and wasted time trying to figure out the question, and got the same marks as those who didn't even bother to waste 10 minutes on it, whilst having time to check the rest of the paper.

This is disgraceful on many levels. The exchange of "1-butanol" for "ethanol" cannot possibly be attributed to a misprint. Such a mistake inequivocally emerges when the person responsible for setting the question does not bother to work it out him/herself, prior to handing it in for printing. Any checks that MATSEC carried out prior to printing would possibly have consisted of matching the printed draft with the original questions handed to them by the paper setters themselves. Such checks would therefore have overlooked the mistake, unless they were carried out by Chemistry teachers.

Going back to some previous comments...no, we are not coddling our students. We all know what a tough race it is, especially if they're after some courses in particular. As a Chemistry teacher, and I think here I speak for my colleagues too, we try to make life easier for our students. Let such a mistake not be repeated!

Matsec should be completely scrapped!

How can they give full marks to a question without the least thought that these students must have been confused, worried and wasted time on a question that could not be worked and thus had less time to finish the whole exam??

I think that a proper enquiry should be held on the level and type of questions set for MATSEC and SEC exams and either contract boards (preferably foreign) to set up the paper or else bring back the foreign exams!!!

I understand the points made. However blaming such a mistake on 'a silly government employee' such as Mr. Busutill did is to me pointless and offensive to all those who work with the government in the vast array of its institutions. The fact that the vast majority of the Maltese have to blame everything on the government is laughable. I can assure those who reacted to my comment that I was a student and that I know of mistakes made by MATSEC in the course of these years. However I never thought that a student could blame the difference between a B or a C on such a mistake. I find it hard to believe that a question of 6 marks would cause students to panic so much. I think they did quite well- getting 6 marks for nothing! Mistakes like these MUST be avoided in the future, but lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill.....

One wonders whether students' answer sheets are checked with the same level of attention to detail...

@ Mr/Ms Papagiorcopulo

It is true everyone makes mistakes but we are talking about Alevels here. Exams that will finally determine our future and what career we choose. Being a student who sat for this exam, I do not think that this was a mistake that can be erased by a simple apology. We wasted precious time trying to figure a mechanism which does not exist.

@ Mr Naudi

I agree with Mr Piccinino, in saying that invigilators are of no help. I would also like to say that at Chemistry Alevel, mistakes are not easily spotted by students as mechanisms can take different forms. Even though some of us realised there was a mistake, it wasn't easy to see what the exact mistake was.

Finally I'd like to Thank Matsec for the stress caused and time wasted in this morning's exam.

As an A-level chemistry teacher I would like to state that several students I teach and who sat for their exam, pointed out the mistake to the invigilators and asked them to contact the University. Some students were told that someone had contacted the University and that there was no error.

Now somewhere someone has messed up. This probably includes any person who failed to get into proper contact with the University. It would have taken a few seconds for any chemistry lecturer there to realize the mistake and instruct the person in charge at the exam centre to communicate the correction to the students. The incident could have been over in 15 minutes with far less harm done.

Dear Mr.Naudi,
as a person who this morning set for the exam, i can assure you that students complained with the invigilator that there was a mistake. The Invigilator with all the calmness in the world, simply said, "It must be your mistake, since Matsec would work out these papers". After several other complaints she menaced with sending out the students. I wonder why invigilators selected, are selected with no idea on the subject of the examination. IF the invigilators were competent enough on the subject they would have suggested that the question was unanswerable (although MATSEC "carefully checked" prior to the printing of the paper). Furthermore, since these exams costs money, I would expect a MATSEC official present at the location of where the exam is held, so these stupid mistakes could be corrected at the appropriate time.

In my opinion awarding full marks to all people is only MATSEC's tactic to shut up people's mouths. Seeing this, I see myself as a penalized student. Although I figured out the question was incorrect, I still spent 45 minutes out of the 3 hours struggling to find a solution to the question, writing what I thought was the "best" answer of the question. Other students who left it blank just because they had no idea of it (shows lack of study) unjustly still will get the same marking as I will, despite my efforts in trying to answer the question. Little did I know that the question was "carefully" checked by what seems incompetent people.

As a teacher, teaching in a church school, I am accustomed to setting exam papers and God knows what happens if I made a mistake like that! I think drastic action should be taken against the paper setters as this shows that no one worked the questions prior to exam. SHAMEFUL!

It's unbelievable, but I am not surprised. One should also comment about the physics O level paper A and Maths O level paper A. It was a shock to see these teenagers coming out from their exam shattered. What are we trying to achieve, an increase in addications. Please let examinations be a reward for pupils who have given their all, and do no not punish them in this way, this amounts to cruelty.

This has become an annual occurrence. What careful checks? These things keep on happening and no one seems to be accountable.
It's unbelievable how apologetic some people can be - Pull the other one! Would you be writing this, Ms Papagiorcopulo, had you been one of the students sitting for the exam? I am sure you'll have the decency to reply.

This is unacceptable and is yet another farce on the MATSEC's behalf. How there can be a mistake, and a critical one for that, in an A Level paper baffles me. I'm not saying that the board is perfect, but you do expect them, especially after having 'checked' the paper, to not find any mistakes of any nature within the paper!

One of my friends who sat for this paper spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to solve this question, before finally giving up and moving on. While he might be compensated with the measly 6 marks, this student cannot be compensated with the 30 minutes that he 'wasted' thanks to the sheer inadequacy of the board. If that is what will distinguish this person getting a B from a C, and subsequently, prevent him from pursuing his dream, then I know exactly who he's going to point his finger at to blame - and he's right to do so. There again, I wouldn't be surprised if we have an alarmingly high pass rate in the paper this year either.

ATROCIOUS ,UNACCEPTABLE and no, Niki Papagiorcopulo , NO ONE is to be allowed to make such mistakes!

I find your statement "let us not coddle these youngsters more than they are already coddled"
has absolutely nothing to do with the argument and find it particularly offensive to all the families and youngsters involved! We should be more mature in our arguments, in such a serious matter.

As a student who sat for this exam, all i have to say is shameful!! Shameful as we spend plenty of time trying to solve a question which is unsolvable!!!! Shameful for the stress this makes students go through. A big thanks.

@Mr Naudi

Unfortunately the invigilators are as good help as the bench on which one writes the exam. They simply refrain from answering questions and would not willingly bring a MATSEC official in time.

Everybody commits mistakes but entities like matsec cannot keep on being criticised session after session for paper mistakes or other organizational mistakes.

I think that students sitting for that particular exam, considering the time lost in trying to work out what was supposed to be a problem set by omniscient experts, should be awarded the full marks but in addition to that they should also have a bonus for the distress they experienced and the time lost. apologies and nice words do not bring qualifications.

Last but not least, those responsible should make place for more efficient "experts".

As a retired teacher I can say that these "experts" should for once try to remember what they went through when THEY were students. Two wrongs do not make a right.

One is wrong in saying that the paper is checked by a simple clerk. It is checked by officials. It is true that everyone can make mistakes , but in this case the person/s should be sacked.
Would an examiner have the same sympathy towards a candidate who misread a question?

Unfortunately the only ones to be at the worse end of this situation are the students. I recall from last year how we were not handed out graph paper at the Economics A level, despite the question explicitly asking for the plotting of one. Thankfully that was well remedied with the later provision of new booklets and adequate time to write everything all over again - but it is still a mistake that cannot be tolerated in light of such negligence.

Such acts/omissions recur every year, and Ms. Papagiorcopulo might have forgotten the fact that the board is giving the impression that its members are only willing to do a half-decent job, in spite of it being at the heart of the Maltese intellectual centre.

@ Niki Papagiorcopulo
Examining boards should not make such mistakes. They are meant to set a standard. This wasn't even a typo error, it was substituting one chemical for another. Papers should be checked and double checked and then checked again. Its not the first time MATSEC has made a mistake. Being awarded the full marks for the question is hardly coddling, its the least they could have done.
Maybe they should start printing disclaimers on the exam papers!

@ Mr Papagiorcopulu: If the Uni is one of the highest institutions of the country, then it is all the more scandalous that such a mistake should emanate from its glorified corridors of knowledge and excellence!
No institution or person is considered a sacred cow anymore. After all, these 'institutions' are being paid for by the taxpayers' money.
There are mistakes and mistakes. This mistake is not the product of just one person, but is the responsibility of one team!

As Mr. Papagiorcopulo said, everyone makes mistakes. However, can anyone in his right mind think that after "careful checks prior to the printing of the examination paper", done by so called 'experts' in the subject, mistakes ought to be found in an exam paper? We are not talking about some kind of dispensable exam here (as those reading surely know), we are talking about an A level! The time lost trying to answer the question,despite the full amount of marks being given to candidates, could represent the difference between a grade B and a Grade C, thus preventing some from entering university and attending the course they desire to attend... So much for being coddled, Mr. Papagiorcopulo....

Dear Niki Papagiorcopulo, as Franco Farrugia said, how can Matsec compensate students for the time they lost trying to complete the question?!


Surely unacceptable. Students must be compensated much better... Pooo!

Good Job Matsec. I spent an average of 45 minutes trying to figure out mechanisms of reactions. Although mistake admittance is the first step, my end result was that because of that question I ended up struggling with time to finish others, probably not giving the desired attention due to the lack of time. Thanks

It was at least honest of MATSEC to admit it had made a mistake - it had no option really! But, I'm surprised that no student sitting the exam queried the question with the invigilator(s). If they'd had, perhaps a MATSEC Board member might have responded with the speed of lightning (in Malta? - highly unlikely!) and all might have been well in the end!

I would question the 'despite the careful checks prior to the printing of the examination papers' statement. Whoever was doing the checking was either (a) unqualified to check; (b) daydreaming at the time of checking; or (c) having a bad day! Let's hope exam papers will be double-, if not triple-, checked in future. Sorry, but your attempt at justification is unacceptable and doesn't stand up!

I hope you'll do better next time and perhaps act a bit more professionally! Do you realise the aggro you cause students when things are done so haphazhardly?

Mr/Ms Papagiorcopulo

The MATSEC department have in these last few years produced papers that would baffle the minds of post-graduates, let alone students performing their A-levels. I have heard that the last SOK paper was atrocious, prompting angry letters in newspapers. Hoards of students cried their eyes out as they left the examination rooms after the Pure Maths A-level. Why does MATSEC impose all this needless tension on our students? Why must a student aspiring to become a doctor repeat her a- levels, disallowing him/her from sitting for a re-sit, just because he/she got a C in a certain intermediate, having got a B or higher in both of his/her A-level subjects, also putting in mind the high demand for doctors today?
MATSEC, an exam is carried out to see what students have learnt, and not what they haven't!

Ms Papagiorcopulo, as you said they form part of the highest institutions of this country, and that is what makes the mistake even more unacceptable. Do you know how expensive Matsec examinations have become? I do now accept such a mistake from the most learned people in this country in a paper that was re-read tens of times by them!

This is disgraceful on many points. The fact that 'despite careful checks' the mistake was done does not say much about our university's quality control. We are trusting these people with the education of our youths. I will only accept the resignation of the people responsible, the whole board please, nothing less. Let us show how serious this is and how real life works.

The add insult to injury and display the shortsightedness of the board they have granted full marks for the answer to all students. Now those students who did not know the answer are better of then those who either figured out the mistake or knew the answer if the question was right. The latter ones are actually worse off as instead of having time to check the answers to the other questions they wasted time over question 7.

Will our wise board take into consideration the panic, frustration, confusion and undue pressure created on the students by this stupid carelessness. As if our students do not have enough pressure and anxiety during these examinations.

I hope that the authorities do not take this lightly like most other things in Malta. I feel that the students should be given another chance and the exam should be done again after of course sacking the present Matsec Board. Maybe we are lucky enough that some politician has his kids doing these examinations maybe we can get some real action and see the responsible people get what they deserve.

The Board stated that regrets the error and informs candidates that the full marks allotted to the question will be awarded to all candidates.

The award of full marks might be considered as a very generous act.. In reality such mistakes confuse candidates not only in the question involved but also the remaining part of the paper.

Such mistakes should be avoided and are never accepted..

Well, thanks MATSEC Board for informing me that my son spent a signiifcant amount of time trying to solve the unsolvable! Will he be awarded extra marks for the anxiety caused by such a careless and very avoidable mistake?
Do the people who set exam papers have human?
The Board should take a deep look at the irrational and unjust way papers are set. As a teacher I often wonder whether the Boaard aims at making students' lives a misery.

And what marks will be given for the lack of time left for checking our paper?

Real SHAME!!!! No marks can be given to compensate such a mistake!!! We all know that students normally waste very precious time when they realise that they cannot work out a question.This error surely had its toll!!! SHAME again!!!

Clearly the error is not totally that of the employee in question, but of the system used to check for such errors.

Might I ask the simplest of questions? Had anyone tried working the paper prior to approving it as final?

If not, then I wonder what the ''careful checks'' actually constitute.

Quality control is atrocious! Has there been one single year since MATSEC started that there has not been a mistake in a paper! It is unbelievable that such a thing can happen! Mediocrity pervades everything we do in this country. It is even more worrying when it comes from our very own seat of learning!

well done matsec!
I wasted precious time trying to figure out what was a MISTAKE!
thanks again

But how many marks will be awarded for mental distress, to pupils who kept going back and forth to the question to see whether they could solve it - thus losing precious time off the others? We joke that exams in Malta are set to highlight what one does not know (a case in point: O Level Physics I and A Level SOK) - this is the extreme manifestation of such a silly tactic.

And who will compensate for the precious time lost while trying to work out this question I ask...

Considering the money spent on Examination boards, paper setters, etc ... , THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. THIS IS DISGUSTING. AND THE PROBLEM IS THAT NO HEADS EVER ROLL!

How can this be acceptable to the people in charge? God only knows the time that was wasted by the students in trying to find answers to the problem set! Will this be taken into account? And the stress involved?

I speak as a teacher: this is unacceptable.

But as the Maltese saying goes: Kappell mhux se jmejjel iehor.
Oh, well!

I fully agree with your comments, I know students who wasted a lot of time on this question going back to it as they knew there was something wrong, but under such pressure couldn't work out what it was.

This is a real pity for the students who have studied extremely hard and long hours for this subject, as you say those who didn't bother will still receive the marks and this in turn will put up the average pass mark.

This is terribly incompetent.

Come on.... everyone can make a mistake... even ' a silly government employee ' as Mr. Busuttil puts it... Dear Mr. Busuttil have you never made a mistake??? A bit of respect towards employees of the University Of Malta might suit you better, since MATSEC Office is part of this- one of the highest institutions of our country. With regards to student performance due to a question of 6 marks... let us not coddle these youngsters more than they are already coddled. No wonder today's generation is so spoilt with this attitude! I think they got a good deal... 6 marks for nothing! MATSEC was more than just and apologised for the mistake.

Unacceptable of Matsec. Such a mistake could also affect the student's performance throughout the paper as it is common that such a mistake could worry the student throughout the paper.

You have failed!

If this were a student he would have suffered but since its a silly goverment employee Malta will close its eyes and let another piece of terrible management pass without a hiss!

Also there is no distinction between those who knew how to answer the question and those who didn't, terrible way of solving a problem isn't it?