No Extra Paper Allowed In Exams?! Anyone heard of this?

Hello,

Today I sat an english exam.

The exam is split into two sections, the second question being a 60 marker essay question. This essay has to be extremely detailed and therefore requires a lot of space. Anyway I used up all of the space in the answer booklet and was then told I can't have any extra paper?! I was told to instead use any space I didn't use earlier on for the first section of the exam or use the 'blank pages' section (but the woman said she can't guarantee it will be marked).

Has anyone else had this happen to them as I've never heard of it before. Least of all for an English exam where it's known that you'll write an awful lot. I spoke to someone from the exams department at my college and was told this is a new enforcement across all the exam boards.

Has anyone else heard of this? What if you have unusually large handwriting? :frown:

Thanks!

Reply 1

Data

Original post by Alejandro

Some answer booklets have a lined bit at the back for writing more on any question you need. You should use this before extra paper but if you run out of this as well then you can have extra paper. And yes, it will be marked.

Reply 2

Alejandro

Original post by Data

Yeah this answer booklet had nothing else on the back. Just 'Blank pages' written in the centre.

So was the college wrong to have not allowed me to have extra paper?
The woman from the exams office told me that this is a new rule across all the exam boards that no one is allowed extra paper :s-smilie:

Reply 3

Data

Original post by Alejandro

Since the JCQ exam regulations, common to all domestic exam boards, say:

If you have used more than one answer booklet and/or any loose sheets of paper, place them in the correct order. Remember to fasten them together with a treasury tag before you leave. Make sure you add your candidate details to any additional answer sheets that you use.

I think it's pretty clear you can use extra paper. What is true is that AQA, Edexcel and OCR used to use the same stationery but they now do different things. (WJEC have always had some great 2-language stationery so you can learn the Welsh for 'General Certificate of Secondary Education' and other useless phrases if you finish early.)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

Alejandro

Original post by Data

Since the JCQ exam regulations, common to all domestic exam boards, say:

If you have used more than one answer booklet and/or any loose sheets of paper, place them in the correct order. Remember to fasten them together with a treasury tag before you leave. Make sure you add your candidate details to any additional answer sheets that you use.

I think it's pretty clear you an use extra paper. What is true is that AQA, Edexcel and OCR used to use the same stationery but they now do different things. (WJEC have always had some great 2-language stationery so you can learn the Welsh for 'General Certificate of Secondary Education' and other useless phrases if you finish early.)

Right okay, thanks for your help!
Perhaps I should give Edexcel a call. Is it likely to make a difference though as I've already sat the exam?

Reply 5

UnknownError

Original post by Alejandro

Right okay, thanks for your help!
Perhaps I should give Edexcel a call. Is it likely to make a difference though as I've already sat the exam?

I doubt it would make a difference.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6

Alejandro

Original post by UnknownError

I doubt it would make a difference.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yeah kinda feared this :frown:

Reply 7

Blake-inator

Original post by Alejandro

Thanks!

I'm afraid this woman was messing with you! Some people in the History Exam today needed two extra booklets!!

Reply 8

Tortious

Original post by Alejandro

Yeah kinda feared this :frown:

That restriction sounds ridiculous, and to be honest, I'm surprised nobody thought to check with JCQ/QCA etc. before you lot sat the exams to make sure they hadn't misunderstood. Certainly that would've been my first thought.

I'd be inclined to get it on record now that you were disadvantaged by your exams officer/invigilator giving people incorrect information. I'm not sure the school would register a complaint, so you might need to contact Edexcel/JCQ/QCA. I don't have experience of this though, so I can't advise as to which is most appropriate.

Reply 9

Kutta

Give them a call buddy, whats the worst thing they can say? If they says something along the lines of nothing can be done, complain about your centre. I think if they robbed you of a good grade, they deserve to be punished :smile:

If i were you i would be calling the exam officer, exam board, head of sixth etc. More big deal you make it, the more big deal it would be.

But if exam board say you are not allowed extra paper nothing can be done really :/

but i doubt you are not allowed paper, i just do not understand the reasoning?

Reply 10

LiquidGold

Yes you are definitely allowed extra paper! A similar thing happened in a maths exam at my school the other day; a student asked for extra paper and the examiner was all "you shouldn't need extra paper" and wouldn't give the student any extra paper but then the student started kicking up a fuss (rightly so!) and the examiner then gave him some paper (to shut him up it seemed like). It was so ridiculous.
I'd talk to someone at school about it maybe?

Reply 11

Alejandro

Thanks for your help everyone, yeah I think I'll give Edexcel a call tomorrow just to see what they say.
It's just really annoying as I wish they'd told me beforehand so I could have prepared a little more. Especially for an exam like English where I do tend to write quite a lot! :frown:

Reply 12

Data

Original post by Alejandro

Right okay, thanks for your help!
Perhaps I should give Edexcel a call. Is it likely to make a difference though as I've already sat the exam?

In general exam boards don't talk directly to students - your contract, such as it is, is with the school and not the board. I think your best bet would be to talk to your English teacher or Head of 6th and get them to talk to the exams officer. Any request for special consideration would have to come from the school - a decent one would be prepared to admit they screwed up but that the exam board should try and minimise the effect on the candidate (I've had to do it myself).

Reply 13

Alejandro

Original post by Data

Ah right. The only problem is I'm actually sitting this exam at the college as an external candidate. However the college is my college that I attended only last year. But this still may pose a problem as it is more difficult to speak to certain people than if I were just at the college daily.

I've emailed the head exams officer at the college though (as she had gone home when I'd called) and will see what she says.

If she goes along with what the invigilator told me and tells me what happens is normal protocol, where should I go from there? Because from what everyone is saying it doesn't seem the correct procedure, but it would be my word against the colleges... :frown: