Damning review of VCE Specialist Maths exam lays bare serious failures

The state government tried to keep a 74-page report into a botched VCE exam secret but academic whistleblowers have released the scathing review.

Serious VCE maths exam failures, including several flawed questions that were virtually impossible to solve and one which had no correct answer, have been laid bare in a report that the government has tried to keep secret.

Academic whistleblowers have released the Deloitte review into the 2022 Specialist Maths exam, which uncovers serious errors in five questions.

Despite this, the state government repeatedly claimed the report showed the exam “did not have serious errors that impacted students”.

It has since been revealed that one student missed out on a Premier’s Award as a result of the exam and the way it was marked.

The Deloitte review into the 2022 Specialist Maths exam has been released by whistleblowers.

VCE maths teacher John Kermond said it was “inconceivable” that students were not affected by the exam’s errors and the marking process.

The failure to release the report meant any affected students from the 2022 cohort have been denied any compensation, triggering potential legal action.

Mr Kermond said the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, in claiming no serious errors impacted students, “appear to have misrepresented the contents of the report”.

“The terms of reference appear to be intended to find it more likely no wrongdoing by VCAA was found,” he said. “And when they did see its contents, they tried hard to keep it secret.”

The report confirmed the exam, sat by thousands of students, contained five major errors, with an independent expert from NSW affirming the assertions first raised by mathematicians Professor Burkard Polster and Dr Marty Ross.

The report’s 74 pages are a dossier of flaws and inadequacies within the maths-exam-setting process and the exam questions although it ultimately clears the VCAA from any misconduct or wrongdoing.

It also details a security breach involving some of the questions that the mathematicians say were wrong, which occurred when an independent contractor “accidentally emailed some answers to questions”. This led to VCAA staff replacing the four breached questions with new questions from another exam.

The report confirmed the exam, sat by thousands of students, contained five major errors.

This contractor is no longer with the VCAA.

Outside experts interviewed by Deloitte also found questions confusing, took too long to answer and were “a lot of work for one mark”. One said students would struggle to complete all questions in two hours.

Despite all of these findings, the report concluded that there was no misconduct by the VCAA and that the authority “acted in accordance with its policies and procedures”.

The 2022 maths errors have since been affirmed in a 2023 review by Dr John Bennett promoted by an open letter by more than 70 leading mathematicians.

The 2023 VCE exam period also contained a multitude of errors in maths, chemistry and Chinese language exams and led to some maths students getting a bonus mark. Dr Ross has questioned the role played by the new head of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Stephen Gniel.

Mr Gniel was the head of the VCAA between 2020 and 2023 and was promoted to ACARA, the body that produces the My School website and NAPLAN tests in 2024.

“If the facts of this farce are as they appear to me to be, I cannot see how Stephen Gniel’s position as CEO of ACARA is tenable,” Dr Ross wrote in his blog in relation to the VCAA’s assertion that the Deloitte report did not find any errors.

A VCAA spokeswoman said: “We’ve extensively reviewed our VCE exam processes and procedures, including through the 2024 Independent Review, and our focus is now on implementing its recommendations to strengthen the examination-setting process for future VCE mathematics exams.”

“The Deloitte review found the VCAA acted in accordance with its policies and procedures,” she said.

The government has been contacted for comment.