Cape Town — This is the second year in a row that grade 12 pupils writing their final examinations have noticed an error in one of their exam papers.
The error in question was from a Chemistry paper, which omitted a figure in one of the questions carrying three marks in total, Elijah Mhlanga, spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education (DBE), confirmed.
A total of 213 412 candidates sat to write the paper and the omission in the formula directly affected Question 2.2.1 (2 marks) and Question 2.3.3 (1 mark), TimesLIVE reported Mhlanga saying.
A Johannesburg pupil, who bagged a distinction during the September mock exams, said he got thrown off by the mistake and also found the later part of the exam “extremely challenging.”
“I didn’t realise that it was a mistake and therefore I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what the answer could be because the question simply didn’t make sense. This is very frustrating because I definitely could’ve used those 10 minutes to spend more time on the more challenging questions.”
He added that he was “rattled” by the mistake in question two and feels the department should ” compensate all learners who wrote the paper.”
Has DBE decided yet how they plan to compensate all those kids who wrote chemistry today? The unbelievable errors in that paper. Kids spent way too much time trying to figure out answers to questions which your moderators failed to correct.
— Yasmeen Abdullah (@Yasmeen12408265) November 16, 2023
A physical science teacher from KZN said his students also complained about the error and he felt the paper had soem questions which were beyond the scope for high school students.
Meanwhile, the DBE has also urged the public to be cautious against fake social media posts that suggested some of the final examination papers were leaked beforehand, IOL said.
“The posts are fake, misleading, and seek to cause unnecessary confusion and panic. The examinations are proceeding well without any major incidents reported,” said the department.
The department wishes to reassure the National Senior Certificate (NSC) candidates, their parents and guardians, and members of the public that there have been no examination paper leaks nor an announcement about any rewrite of any papers whatsoever,” it said.
[MEDIA RELEASE] The Department cautions against fake social media posts regarding “leaked exams papers” #NSC2023@ReginahMhaule @ElijahMhlanga @HubertMweli @dbetvnews pic.twitter.com/mNzWuenSDr
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) November 17, 2023
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
