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31/05/2013
A-Level Students Taught Wrong Exam Material
Pupils at a school in Suffolk have been told they have been taught the wrong text for their English A-level exam, just two weeks before they were due to sit the paper.
Sixth-formers at Newmarket College were studying the Bram Stoker's Gothic text of Dracula, when they should have been studying Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Abbie Stallabrass, who is one of the affected pupils, said the "bombshell was dropped" three days before their half-term holiday.
It is understood the exam board AQA has been notified of the error and has insisted the pupils would not be disadvantaged.
Miss Stallabrass said the error was discovered by another English teacher at the school who was making preparations for next year.
She said: "He noticed Dracula had been dropped from the curriculum and we should have been studying Frankenstein.
"Our teacher came in and seemed unusually nice and chirpy, and then she dropped the bombshell. It was crazy. We were pretty horrified.
"On Friday another teacher gave us a five-hour intensive session on Frankenstein, which was incredibly stressful but it did get us up to speed with the story."
The class had been studying Dracula for eight months, but now only have ten hours to learn the proper exam text.
Earlier this year, the school was rated "inadequate" in an Ofsted report.
(JP)
Sixth-formers at Newmarket College were studying the Bram Stoker's Gothic text of Dracula, when they should have been studying Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Abbie Stallabrass, who is one of the affected pupils, said the "bombshell was dropped" three days before their half-term holiday.
It is understood the exam board AQA has been notified of the error and has insisted the pupils would not be disadvantaged.
Miss Stallabrass said the error was discovered by another English teacher at the school who was making preparations for next year.
She said: "He noticed Dracula had been dropped from the curriculum and we should have been studying Frankenstein.
"Our teacher came in and seemed unusually nice and chirpy, and then she dropped the bombshell. It was crazy. We were pretty horrified.
"On Friday another teacher gave us a five-hour intensive session on Frankenstein, which was incredibly stressful but it did get us up to speed with the story."
The class had been studying Dracula for eight months, but now only have ten hours to learn the proper exam text.
Earlier this year, the school was rated "inadequate" in an Ofsted report.
(JP)
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