Students who sat for their GCE O-Level examinations last year returned to schools today to collect their results. 32 of them, however, will never know exactly how well (or badly) they did for their Additional Mathematics paper — their answer scripts were lost in a train in the United Kingdom.
A total of 32 scripts for the GCE O-Level Additional Math Paper 2 were misplaced on Nov 21 last year, according to the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB). A Cambridge examiner had carried the papers in his luggage bag when he traveled by train from London to the north of England, where he intended to carry out the grading. Initially kept beside him, he had to place the bag on a luggage rack when the train got crowded.
Unfortunately, the examiner’s bag was mistakenly taken by another train passenger and remains missing even after extensive searches by the authorities were carried out across the rail companies.
The 32 lost scripts were from Nan Hua High School and Hong Kah Secondary School, SEAB confirmed. The affected candidates have been awarded a “fair and valid grade” for their unaccounted papers, which makes up a significant 56 percent of their final grade. How they did so is by weighing their performance in the other Additional Mathematics paper relative to the entire cohort’s overall performance as well as their preliminary examination results.
In the end, 29 of the affected candidates passed their papers, while 20 of them attained distinctions. “Almost all the affected candidates had been awarded better or the same grades for the O-Level Additional Mathematics as compared to their school preliminary examinations,” SEAB stated.
A chance to re-sit
Those unhappy with their final grades are welcome to go through the hassle of re-examination next month. The re-examination — based on the same curriculum and format as the one sat before — will give the affected candidates a chance to improve their grades. Only the better score will be recorded as the final grade in their GCE O-Level result slip and certificate.
Missing, again
The unfortunate incident took place just a year after the exam scripts of students who sat for the 2017 GCE A-Level H2 Chemistry paper also went missing in the UK. A total of 238 students from four junior colleges here were affected when a courier driver had his parcels looted from his vehicle — the first time that exam scripts sent to the UK for marking were stolen since Singapore adopted the national GCE examinations.
Unlike the affected O-Level students, however, all 238 A-Level students obtained at least a pass grade.
