Errors in two questions

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

The Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) claimed there were errors in two question papers of the GCE Advanced Level examination which commenced on Monday.

CTSU sources said it noticed errors in the Second Paper of the Combined Mathematics and Biology question papers.

Meanwhile, Examinations Department sources said question number 12 of the Combined Mathematics paper of the A/L examination was corrected by the Examinations Department through a special letter dated August 7, 2012 no sooner the errors were identified.

The CTSU spokesman said certain questions in the Biology paper were not in the teachers’ guide yet such a question was in the GCE A/L Biology paper.

An Examinations Department spokesman said the Department took timely and adequate measures to rectify the issue. “However, it is the responsibility of the Examinations Department to carry out an error free examination process,” he added.

CTSU sources said question No 15 (A) in the Combined Mathematics paper I, too was in error.

Commenting on the allegations of question number 12 of the Combined Mathematics II paper, Examinations Department sources said the Examinations Department was informed by the professor responsible for preparing the question paper.

The Department had taken immediate measures to inform this to examination supervisors countrywide.

Since the Biology paper comes as a MCQ paper, candidates are required only to select and mark the correct answer.

In accordance with the teachers’ guide it is true that there is no need to remember some of the Botanical or Zoological names, but in this question, students only had to choose the right answer from a set of answers given. Therefore, candidates who answered this question never faced any difficulty when answering, the sources said.