Investigation into Handling and Communicating of Erratum in Recent GCE "A" Level Chemistry Examination Paper

24 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Education regarding the reported erratum for an "A" Level Chemistry exam paper on 16 November 2022 (a) when and how was the error in the exam paper discovered; (b) how were the schools alerted and what was the timeline; (c) what guidance is provided to schools on communicating examination errata and whether affected students should receive extra time; and (d) how will unexpected circumstances that arise during exams be considered in a marking process.

25 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Education whether he can provide an update on the "errata" during the recent GCE "A" Level Chemistry examination where there were differing practices across institutions such that certain schools were given extra time from five to 15 minutes to check and correct whilst others not given additional time.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, may I combine the response to Question No 24 by Dr Tan Wu Meng and Question No 25 by Mr Patrick Tay?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: In the 2022 GCE "A" Level H2 Chemistry paper 3, an erratum to one of the optional questions, affecting two sub-parts, worth one mark each, was issued together with the question paper to every student at the start of the examination.

During the examination, a few schools sought additional clarifications on the erratum with the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB). SEAB then issued the clarifications to the erratum and advised schools to give make-up time according to the duration of the announcement of the clarification. This would ensure that students continue to have the full duration of two hours to complete the paper.

Cambridge Assessment and SEAB will take this incident into consideration during marking and ensure that students are not disadvantaged. SEAB will also review the management of errata to avoid such incidents in future.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan.

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): I thank the Minister of State for her answer. I have Clementi residents who read the news of this and were concerned. I have two short supplementary questions. First, can the Minister of State share why these errata are happening and is it more often? Secondly, when was the last check of this particular exam paper and was the final check on an actual print copy that was going ahead to the exam?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: I thank the hon Member for the two supplementary questions. On the second one, the exam paper and the erratum were prepared by Cambridge Assessment International Education. Both the exam paper as well as the erratum were printed and issued together to every student at the start of the exam.

As to whether this is a common issue, I checked with my Ministry of Education (MOE) colleagues. We had more than 200 "A" Level papers per year; no erratum in 2021 GCE "A" Level; and there was one erratum for one paper due to typographical error in 2020. So, basically, it is not a common incident. For each case, we do seek to be fair to all students. The time taken by each examination centre to clarify on erratum will be compensated to the students, so that they still have the same amount of time that they need to complete the exam paper.

3.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. Ministerial Statements, Minister for Health.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix.]