An exam board has apologised to GCSE students for a “disappointing” 100-year error in a history exam paper that candidates say put them off.
The “Medicine in Britain” history paper set by Pearson Edexcel and sat by students on Thursday referred to Thomas Sydenham’s book Observationes Medicae being published in 1576, rather than the correct date of 1676.
Heads’ leaders described the error as “disappointing” and said it was “particularly frustrating that we have already had such a problem so early in the exam series.”
The 100-year difference was fundamental to understanding the question, one student said, because it was understood to involve asking students to evaluate the physician’s impact on medicine from 1500-1700.
The incorrect date in the question would imply Sydenham’s book had a larger impact in this period than it did in reality.
It was unclear how the exam board would mark the papers to take the mistake into account.
A Pearson Edexcel spokesperson said: “We do not want any error on any paper.
“The mistake identified in today’s GCSE history paper is disappointing and we apologise to candidates.”
GCSEs 2023: Exam board says mistake will not affect grades
The spokesperson added that the exam board had “tried-and-tested procedures” to make sure that students would not be impacted.
“All of our assessment materials go through a rigorous process in which writers, subject experts and assessment experts collaborate to approve the final versions that candidates will see, and mistakes are rare.
“We work tirelessly on ensuring that our assessments are error-free and allow candidates to perform their best.”
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is disappointing that there was an error in this paper, and particularly frustrating that we have already had such a problem so early in the exam series.
“We have seen the assurance from Pearson Edexcel that they have tried-and-tested procedures in place to ensure that students will not be impacted, but we remain concerned about how such systems can account for the fact that an error in a paper can knock the confidence of a student to the extent that they then do less well in the rest of the paper.
“It is essential that there is no detriment at all to these students beyond the unnecessary stress and anxiety this error will have already caused them.”
But one student from County Durham, who sat the paper on Thursday, said: “We are the ones who have worked tirelessly for two years, putting in hours of revision, only to have our hard work undermined by an easily identifiable error.
“It is unclear what actions will be taken to rectify this issue, leaving me and others who have sat this exam nervous of how this will impact our history grade.”
Explaining the impact of the error in the question, she added: “The 100-year difference completely changes the correct answer to the question. Sydenham’s discovery did not have impact in this time period and his ideas were not accepted until long after his death. In fact, he was ridiculed while he was alive.
“The mistake in the question led me and other students to question our own knowledge and threw us completely off.”
