Pupil rewarded for writing obscenities

By Helen Kaye

Current news

03 July 2008 05:00

A pupil who wrote ‘f*** off’ on his GCSE paper has been awarded 7.5% of marks for his efforts by a chief examiner.

Chief examiner Peter Buckroyd said he would have received 11% if he had added an exclamation mark.

The astonishing story, revealed in The Times newspaper, shows that pupils are being rewarded for writing obscenities in their GCSE English examinations even when it has nothing to do with the question.

To gain minimum marks in English, students must demonstrate “some simple sequencing of ideas” and “some words in appropriate order”. The phrase had achieved this, according to Mr Buckroyd.

The chief examiner, who is responsible for standards in exams taken by 780,000 candidates and for training for 3,000 examiners, told The Times: “It would be wicked to give it zero, because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for – like conveying some meaning and some spelling.”

The offensive comment was given in answer to the question “Describe the room you’re sitting in”, on a 2006 GCSE paper.

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