Ministry raises students’ grades after mistakes in final exam

The fact that the decade ‘sixties’ can be spelled in two ways means that students get higher grades on the final exam.

A number of students got fewer correct answers on their 9th grade final exam in Danish than they should have.

This is what the trade magazine Folkeskolen writes.

The spelling of the decade ‘sixties’ was allegedly the cause of the problems.

According to the trade journal, several students had written ’60s’, which is also an approved spelling according to the Spelling Dictionary.

But the computer system did not accept it, registering the spelling as an error.

For some students, this has meant that they have received a lower grade than they should have had.

This has now been corrected in the overview of grades in testogprøver.dk, writes Folkeskolen.

The Danish newspaper Folkeskolen has spoken with teacher Finn Bangsgaard from Overlund School in Viborg, among others.

For one of his students, the error meant that he should have had 12 instead of 10 in the first place.

“In the old days, there were examiners who corrected. But back then, the students wrote by hand. It was difficult for the examiner to read the students’ handwriting. It’s a spelling test, so it’s an advantage – also for the students – that it’s digital, but then you have to make sure that there are no errors in the digital direction in the tests,” he tells Folkeskolen.

The professional journal Folkeskolen does not mention how many students are said to be affected by the error.

It is not only the final exams for 9th graders that have proven to be problematic.

The 10th grade written English exam also caused a stir across the country.

TV 2 Østjylland has previously described how a technical error affected the students’ written English exam on May 8th.

The error meant that students could not enter their answers into the assignment.

The problem was discovered shortly before the start of the exam. This led some schools to resort to alternative solutions such as writing in other programs, but according to TV 2 Østjylland this made the answers invalid.

This now means that the affected students will have the opportunity to take the exam on June 20th if they want.

ritzau