Tasmanian ATAR scores reissued after students left fuming over error

UPDATED: Tasmania’s class of 2018 has been offered counselling after its final exam marks were recalled and reissued in the space of 12 hours.

UPDATED: TASMANIA’S class of 2018 has been offered counselling after its final exam marks were recalled and reissued in the space of 12 hours.

Dozens of students saw changes to their Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank after a data entry error was hastily corrected.

The rankings for 2215 students had to be recalculated and re-sent, with those most affected being students studying in the University of Tasmania’s High Achiever Program and University Connections Program.

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The Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification chief Katrina Beams apologised on Wednesday for the mistake.

She said emails had been sent overnight on Tuesday to all students with corrected scores.

“It seems that there was a procedural error in the uploading of the scores into the data system,” she said.

“There have been 67 students whose ATAR has gone up by more than one point and 37 who have gone down by more than one point,” she said.

“I apologise for the concern and the distress that it has caused for students and their families but I can reiterate that it hasn’t affected anyone’s entry into university.”

She the majority of those affected has been contacted by email but 166 who had not registered their email addresses would receive their correct results by post.

TASC CEO Katrina Beams apologises for the incorrect ATAR scores. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

She said no student’s university entry would be affected by the slight delay in forwarding the correct results to the University of Tasmania, which acts as the state’s Tertiary Admissions Centre and processes ATARs for local and interstate admissions.

“They were due to send their ATAR files to the Australian University Admissions Centre late yesterday and they put a halt on all of that until everything was corrected and now they’ve sent it all through

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said help was in place for families affected by the problem and an inquiry was underway.

“The Tasmanian Government understands and acknowledges the concern among students and families with regard to the reissuing of ATAR results yesterday,” he said.

“In addition to the quick response by TASC, the University of Tasmania and the Department of Education to fix the issue within the same day, we have also put in place additional support measures for affected students and their families.”

Opposition education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne said the Opposition had been raising issues about TASC for some time.

Ms O’Byrne said the review announced by the Education Minister was the second into the body in a little more than a year. “The Government always calls for a review, but they did one and they came back and said there would be no problems with exams this year,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“This review has to show a fast turnaround and demonstrable change.”

Ms O’Byrne said it was hard to believe an agency whose sole responsibility was the orderly conduct of examinations could make such a mess of it.

“How do you not check that your system works before you issue the result of exams?”

Students or parents who were after more information were urged to check the TASC website.

EARLIER: University entrance scores were reissued to every Tasmanian student last night after a “human error” saw some high-achieving students receive incorrect results.

The mistake led to dozens of students receiving lower Australian Tertiary Entrance Rankings yesterday, but Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the error had been fixed.

STUDENTS LEFT WORRYING OVER ATAR ERROR

Opposition education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne weighed into the issue, saying the Opposition had been raising issues about the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification — the body responsible for releasing ATAR results — for some time.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Mr Rockliff said ATAR scores were reissued late last night after human error resulted in the wrong data being used to calculate final results.

Some students received higher scores, others lower, with some results also unaffected.

Mr Rockliff said the University of Tasmania and the TASC had tested and validated the updated results.

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“I understand this error will have been upsetting for some students and I’d like to reassure them that their tertiary admissions will not be impacted,” Mr Rockliff said.

“The quick response by the Department of Education to fix the issue within the same day, means that university admission processes nationally and internationally are using correct data.

“I have instructed the secretary of the Department of Education to initiate an independent audit to understand how ATAR scores were incorrectly calculated in order to prevent such an incident happening again.

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“The audit will look into the business processes undertaken by the department in supplying critical data to TASC and UTAS.”

Ms O’Byrne said the review announced by the Education Minister was the second into the body in a little more than a year.

“The Government always calls for a review, but they did one and they came back and said there would be no problems with exams this year,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“This review has to show a fast turnaround and demonstrable change.”

Ms O’Byrne said it was hard to believe an agency whose sole responsibility was the orderly conduct of examinations could make such a mess of it.

“How do you not check that your system work before you issue the result of exams?”

“The minister needs to take responsibility. We’ve raised significant issues with the operation of TASC and its operations.”

She said the uncertainty surrounding this year’s marks would not only affect year 12 students, but those in year 11 who were trying to pick schools and courses for next year.

Students seeking more information should visit the TASC website.