Matric candidates will not have to rewrite the maths exam paper that contained the infamous Question 5, which many flagged as impossible to solve.
But they may have to wait until January to hear the Department of Basic Education’s decision on whether their marks will be adjusted.
The “matter is being discussed”, according to department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga, and an announcement would only be made “once all conversations are concluded”.
The conversations included a meeting with quality assurance council Umalusi, which was only likely to take place in January, according to Mhlanga.
Umalusi gave the “final approval of all question papers”, he added
The suspected error was reported countrywide after pupils had written the Maths Paper 2 exam on 7 November.
Mhlanga previously said if there was an impact on pupil performance because candidates lost time trying to answer the question or became stressed, officials would assess whether an upwards adjustment of 1 or 2% was necessary.
Umalusi spokesperson Biki Lepota said the standard procedure for dealing with a claimed problematic question, such as the one in the Maths Paper 2 exam, involved assessing the paper during the subject’s marking guidelines or memoranda standardisation meeting.
This meeting includes markers and representatives from the department and Umalusi.
The meeting looks at “where learners may not have done well through no fault of their own”, Lepota said, and moderate problematic questions in consideration of candidates’ answers.
Depending on pupils’ responses, the question could be accepted. This could be done if most pupils receive method marks for showing their calculations and logic.
The three-part 5.1 maths problem was a trigonometry question where pupils had to draw a triangle based on provided information.
Daily Maverick spoke to external experts who said the information provided was contradictory, and there was no way of deciding which quadrant of the Cartesian plane to draw it in, for the question:
Alternatively, if there was an error in the question, it could be excluded from the paper, “depending on the magnitude of the problem”, he added.
Lepota was unable to give a timeline on when the process would be completed and said a staggered approach was used for the meetings. He did, however, say the paper would not be rewritten.
“The external moderators of Umalusi attend these meetings and take responsibility for signing off the final marking guidelines after considering the responses of candidates and the deliberations.
“The fine-grained details of how the concerns were dealt with would be submitted for the consideration of Umalusi at the end of the marking process,” Lepota said.
The CEO of teachers’ union SAOU, Chris Klopper, said they would not rewrite the paper.
“It will either be left out of the total marks or get an adjusted mark. It’s not a question of rewriting the paper, but rather a decision about the particular question alone.
“It’s an unfortunate issue. It is something that should have been picked up throughout the numerous phases of moderation and many people scanned this particular paper.
“We have advised our members accordingly and need the department to also calm the learners during this time,” Klopper added.
The general-secretary of the Professional Educators’ Union, Ben Machipi, said the discussion of the memorandum would be the deciding factor.
“When this happens, and it is apparent the question was not taught to learners then all of them will be given marks. If it’s only an issue affecting some learners then it will be taken as if these learners then didn’t answer the question,” he added.
Machipi said they have yet to meet with their union’s maths teachers to indicate to them the implication of the question.
“Learners won’t be disadvantaged if the mistake is on part of the examiner. With the minister saying the outcome will be heard in January, it simply means it’ll wait until a memo discussion where a fair decision will be taken,” he added.
News24
