Many first year Maths undergraduates have been left confused and angry after problems during their “Introduction to Group Theory” end of term exam last Monday.
After the exam a Facebook group was set up complaining that students were given an inappropriately short amount of time to get into the hall and sit down before the exam began. They were then not given enough time to read the instructions and were given conflicting directions for filling in their papers throughout the exam.
The Facebook group reports, “A complaint has been made to the department and the issue has been raised with the Chair of Board of Examinations, Chris Fewster, who was aware that there has been some confusion about the exam.”
It goes on to encourage any students wishing to complain to contact their Board of Studies representatives. However, any ill feeling among students is failing to register a huge amount of interest on the social networking site with the group “Group Theory Exam – 21/06/10” only having gained some 29 members, as of last Saturday.
Added to this, some students have criticised the aims of the group, stating “Does it matter that much?… it did specifically say on the instructions to do it in two separate booklets and the only people affected were those that didn’t read the instructions, which is their fault, regardless of time before the exam – it does only take a minute to read the front.”
The Department of Mathematics and the Board of Examiners have been made aware of the complaints but have yet to comment.