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EXAM

University maths test ‘impossible to solve’

A maths test presented to students at the prestigious Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm contained problems that proved impossible to solve.

Despite the erroneous test, in which three of the five mathematical problems could not be solved, students at the department of industrial economy at KTH, will not be given a chance to repeat the exam, according to a report by news website Svd.se

After a frustrating two and a half hours battling to solve apparently impossible problems, the 155 assembled students were informed by a lecturer that the exam contained two errors.

After a further 30 minutes had passed the teacher returned to inform them that in fact the final, fifth problem was also impossible to solve.

“One thinks as a student that it is you that is wrong and the exam that is correct. I was counting away like a madman, but it just wouldn’t work,” Emelie Baedecke Yllner told Svd.se.

As if to add insult to injury the students were then later informed that they wouldn’t be given the chance to re-sit the exam.

The tests were instead marked as normal and the erroneous problems were taken into account when grading.

The students whodid not achieve a pass in the test will be given further problems to solve with which to complement their exam.

“We can’t just pass them because the text was wrong in the exam. They have to show that they know their subject if we are to pass them. I can’t do any more than that,” said Per Enqvist at KTH.

Enqvist was responsible for the three month course and for the writing of the exam paper and expressed some understanding for the students.

‘”This should not happen. I have written the exam and checked with a colleague and we have both missed the three mistakes.”

The institution’s prefect informed Svd.se that a review of the routines for the checking of exams could be undertaken.

EDUCATION

Two Spanish teenagers face jail time over cheating in exam

Two young men in Almeria could face one year in prison after one was caught pretending to be the other to take an entrance exam.

Two Spanish teenagers face jail time over cheating in exam
Stock photo of taking an exam. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The students in Almeria in southern Spain were caught attempting to cheat an entrance exam for vocational studies when one showed up to take the test pretending to be the other, Europa Press reported on Friday.

Public prosecutors have accused the boys of committing a crime of falsifying public documents because the one that went to the exam had to use the other’s ID card and took the test under the other boy’s name.

The prosecution is seeking a sentence of one year in prison for each as well as a fine of €6 to be paid each day for 12 months.

One of the students’ defense attorney argued that the proposed sentence is “barbaric” and out of proportion with the act, saying that the exam should not be considered as an official document.

“They have not harmed anyone and even though this conduct was reproachable, it does not create social alarm enough to have them sent to prison,” attorney José Carlos Segura said.

“That this case is going to trial is already disproportionate and I believe it could be solved with an administrative fine or sanction of academic consequences,” he continued. “This kind of punishment threatens them with a loss of liberty and records them permanently as criminals.”

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