Students given wrong exam results

Pupils at a Northern Ireland school were given the wrong exam results following a blunder by the board charged with marking their papers, it was revealed today.

Eighteen out of 22 English literature students at Dominican College in Portstewart, Co Derry, had their AS-Level grades upgraded, some rising from an E to an A, after the school queried their poor performance.

The English-based examination body, Edexcel, blamed an administration error for giving out the wrong marks.

It apologised for the distress caused to parents and pupils during the month-long time lapse between the first grades being sent out and the correct results being issued at the end of last week.

The mix-up is the latest in a series of mistakes made by boards in both A-Levels and the new AS-Levels.

Fern Turner, of the Association of Head Teachers, expressed concern that the fledgling system was overstretched.

‘‘When you are talking about mistakes from E and D right up to A then we are talking about a very, very serious issue,’’ she said.

‘‘That isn’t just a simple mistake, that is a fundamental error that could have long lasting effects on that young person’s future career.’’