More than 200 higher level Leaving Certificate accountancy students in 16 Dublin schools were given an incomplete paper today due to a “production error”.
The central section in the affected papers was missing, meaning that the students did not have four of the nine pages.
Correct versions of the paper were faxed and emailed to the affected schools once the error was identified.
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) advised that “additional time should be given in order to make up for any time lost as a result of this error,” although it did not specify how much time.
The SEC this evening apologised for the error, saying while the aim was an error-free examinations system “this will always be an aspiration rather than a completely achievable goal”.
It said 207 students were affected out of a total of 5,171 candidates for the paper in 514 schools nationwide.
This is not the first error in this year’s State exams. Three errors were found in the Junior Certificate business studies paper.
In the most serious incident, 24,000 higher-level Junior Cert business students could not work out a cash-flow question because incorrect figures were given.