150,000 exam papers recalled after theft

A stolen  laptop computer containing questions for an NCEA maths exam triggered a recall of 150,000 exam papers in a serious Qualification Authority security breach.

There are now concerns among some teachers that the final exam was harder than in previous years because of the rush to revise questions and reprint exam papers.

Authority officials are refusing to say how much the hurried recall and reprinting of the papers cost taxpayers, citing commercial sensitivity.

But they deny any exam candidates received an unfair advantage as a result of the security breach.

The laptop was stolen during a house burglary just a few weeks before the November 29 exam.

The laptop belonged to an employee contracted to the authority's examination team, who had prepared questions for two of the six standards being assessed in this year's National Certificate of Educational Achievement level-two maths exam - sat by nearly 27,000 candidates.

Authority deputy chief executive Bali Haque said the two compromised exam papers were amended to ensure anyone gaining access to the original questions would not be advantaged.

However, to avoid confusion and ensure every candidate received the right personalised exam booklet, the authority ordered the recall and reprinting of all six level-two maths papers due to be assessed in the exam.

Mr Haque rejected suggestions that the exam ended up being too hard or that its difficulty was affected by the laptop theft.

He said the difficulty of the amended questions was consistent with the requirements of the standard. Examiners were half way through the marking process, and there were no indications of any problems.

The laptop was password-protected, as were both exam question files.

"It is extremely unlikely that anyone gaining access to the laptop would then have been able to gain access to the examination papers.

"Nevertheless, NZQA takes such incidents seriously and takes all necessary steps to ensure examinations are fair to all candidates," he said.

The authority had promised to be transparent about any problems with this year's examination round, after issues in previous years about variability.

But it did not disclose the theft of the computer, or the exam paper recall, till contacted by The Dominion Post.

A spokesman said the laptop problem was "technically" resolved before the exam round started. "The problem was identified, action was taken and it was mitigated."

- © Fairfax NZ News