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Figure 4-8 Smithers’ list of Board lapses
Exam boards: a catalogue of failures
Feb 2000 OCR blames a shortage of markers for delays in appeals agains last
summer’s grades.
April 2000 The first league table of exam boards are published; Edexcel and OCR
are warned they must “substantially improve the service”.
Aug 2000 The Scottish Highers fiasco: 17,000 results late or missing. Ron Tuck,
chief executive of exam board SQA, resigns.
Nov 2000 Chair and board of Scotland’s education authority resign.
March 2001 Edexcel offers resits to 10,000 students given the wrong marks for a
key skills exams [sz'e].
June 2001 Edexcel pure maths A-Ievel paper is leaked and offered for sale. An
AQA physics A-Ievel paper contains an impossible question.
August 2001 Delays in sending out A-Ievel results is [,s,zc] blamed on pressure of
new AS exams.
October 2001 Christina Townsend resigns as chief executive of Edexcel after
complaints, citing a “particularly demanding year”.
Jan 2002 An Edexcel A-Ievel maths question is found to be impossible and pages
are missing from an IT exam paper; the government sends a “hitman” into the
troubled board.