NZQA has apologised for this mistake in NCEA exam

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has apologised for a botch-up in yesterday's maths exam.

The authority this morning said there was a mistake in a question in the level 3 statistics paper.

Students sitting the three-hour exam were unable to give a correct answer because of an error in a table.

NZQA deputy chief executive Kristine Kilkelly today apologised to students, saying no student who struggled with the question would be disadvantaged.

"In the examination there was an error in a data table in of one of the three questions that meant students couldn't answer part of that question," she said.

"We are committed to ensuring that no student will be disadvantaged as a result."

She said the error slipped through despite comprehensive quality assurance processes.

The error would be taken into account when papers were marked.

"The examination papers will be marked as normal by the panel that has been made aware of the issue - they will take this into account when grading students work," she said.

Students were expected to work out an answer that should have added up to 100 per cent using a table that added up to 121.1 per cent.

- NZ Herald