‘Can’t believe this has happened on such a massive scale’: Former chief examiner on leaks scandal

Students applying for a review of their exam marks after the leaked questions scandal will have to wait several months – well after university offers are out – to learn the outcome.

The 75,000 students who sat VCE exams have been discouraged from applying for score reviews despite the widening of the leak fiasco to 65 out of 74 mainstream exams.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority interim chief executive Dr Marcia Devlin told a school leaders’ briefing on Tuesday that no marks were deducted from any student “so there is no marking reduction or change to review”.

Students applying for a review of their exam marks will have to wait several months – well after university offers are out – to learn the outcome, causing even more frustration among those who have lost faith in the system.

It comes as Education Minister Ben Carroll admitted 40 exams were not sufficiently changed, even after the leaks were discovered.

The leak fiasco affected 65 out of 74 mainstream VCE exams.

As foreshadowed by the Herald Sun on Monday, the latest affected exams include both tests for the second-biggest subject, General Maths, sat by 33,000 students.

Other new leaked exams included Australian History, Chemistry, Physics and Latin, with just nine of the most common exams unaffected by what Mr Carroll has described as a “publishing error”.

A VCAA panel found 69 students had higher marks in leaked questions in five subjects – Business Management, Legal Studies, Product Design and Technologies, Philosophy and Visual Communications.

Year 12 students found it hard to believe only 69 people had so-called “anomalous” results, with some predicting between “500 to 1000” knew about the leaks before exams.

Yarra Valley Grammar principal Mark Merry said schools “had no choice but to take the VCAA at its word”.

“But if students want to appeal then schools will back them in,” he said.

One source said the debacle, first uncovered by the Herald Sun on November 13, “might still have a long way to go”.

A year 12 co-ordinator said the VCAA “was just trying to avoid lawsuits”, while a former chief examiner said he “can’t believe this has happened on such a massive scale”.

Another principal said it was “difficult to have confidence when the VCAA did everything it could to hide the original problem”.

In an at-times chaotic press conference on Tuesday, Dr Devlin also admitted that all Economics students received a full mark for the first question due to poor wording.

Shadow education spokeswoman Jess Wilson renewed her calls for Mr Carroll to refer the blunder to the Victorian Ombudsman or resign.

“Less than two days before the release of final study scores, students still do not understand which questions have been impacted, how examinations will be marked and have no guarantee they will not be left at disadvantage,” she said.

Results will be released on Thursday.