Anger at exam delay

Nineteen IT students were at their desks and ready to sit their two-hour City and Guilds systems support technology exam at 9.30 yesterday morning.

But as the clock ticked away, staff at Brighton College of Technology still had no exam paper to give them.

After a flurry of frantic phone calls, the City and Guilds Board e-mailed the paper to the college, but the college's computer system could not download the document.

The exam board then resorted to a fax. After close scrutiny, the documents were judged legible and students finally started their exam almost an hour late.

Deputy principal, John Evans, said the college was aware the exam paper had not arrived before yesterday.

He said: "Normally we would expect exam boards to get papers to us no later than 48 hours before the exam and they are then kept under lock and key.

"We knew this paper had not arrived and we had been in communication with City and Guilds to try and get hold of it. They promised it would be delivered early yesterday but it didn't arrive."

Mr Evans sympathised with the students' tense wait.

"They were all fired up to start at the proper time and, as you might expect, some of them were a little stressed out."

He said an official letter would be sent to City and Guilds to highlight the difficult conditions they faced.

He said a similar situation had arisen earlier this month with a different exam board.

"We try to ensure out students take their exams in the best possible circumstances. When a situation like this occurs we try and keep them calm but of course, that's not always easy."

Last night City and Guilds apologised for the mix-up and said it would take the delay into account when marking the papers.

A spokeswoman said: "We understand the stress it might have caused and allowances will be made."

She said the mix-up occurred because of an unexpected rise in the number of students sitting the exam nationally. As a result their logging process would be reviewed, she added.