Teacher: Errors in A’ Level results

DID Cambridge University lose the exam scripts of several of our top A’ Level pupils? Bishop Anstey High School former French teacher and head of department, Dianne Nicholls, has become very suspicious after seeing the breakdown of results. She is convinced that in one paper in French — Literature in French — several pupils were given lower marks than she thought they should have earned. This, she said, would have downgraded their ranking and may even have caused them to lose a deserved open national scholarship and instead get just an additional scholarship. Nicholls has 23 years experience teaching French and is a graduate of the prestigious French university, the Sorbonne.

She spoke to Sunday Newsday in her personal capacity, not as an official representative of the school from which she has recently retired. She said all seven girls had obtained bizzarely low marks in one paper, which were totally inconsistent with their marks in the other three papers they had written in French, and moreso with the other eight papers they had written in Spanish and English Literature. Nicholls said that five of her pupils had been marked as “Ungraded” in their Literature in French paper, with the two other pupils getting “D” and “E” respectively. How could a pupil be the third highest in the world in the subject of English Literature, yet then be marked as “Ungraded” in the Literature in French paper? This is what had happened to Candice Davis, said an incredulous Nicholls.

Candice Davis got grade “A” in each of the four papers of English Literature for which she got an overall “A.” She also got four “A”s in all her  papers for Spanish (including Literature in Spanish), getting an overall “A.” In French she got grade “A” for each of three papers, but then allegedly fell down to do so badly as to have her fourth paper “Ungraded” and get an overall “C” in French. Nicholls was sure something was amiss with how Cambridge had marked these papers. The teacher was also worried about the results of Damali Nicholls (no relation). She could not believe that Damali came fifth in the world in English Literature, yet in  Literature had, like Davis, been marked as “Ungraded.” Damali received straight “A”s for each of the four papers of English Literature, and three “B”s for three papers in French, but then got a supposed “Ungraded” in the fourth.

Fatima Siwaju placed second in the world in Spanish (with all four “A”s), yet similarly got a highly inconsistent mark in the Literature in French paper of grade “D.” In her three other French papers Fatima had got straight “A”s. In English Literature Fatima got an overall “A,” from her papers of two “A”s and two “B”s. Camille Warner in her French papers, earned three “A”s but then a grade “E” for the paper, Literature in French. Nicholls spoke of the strengths and weaknesses of each pupil and said she was sure they were supposed to get higher marks than  those awarded by Cambridge. In contrast to the grade “E,” she praised Fatima as being strong in both the content and fluency of French, having the “correct way of seeing things” in French. “I am going on what I know of them. Candice came third in English Literature getting ‘A’s right through — She just can’t get an ‘Ungraded.’ It’s not possible!” Alleging something was very wrong, Nicholls said: “In French I am convinced Fatima or Candice would have placed in the top ten pupils in the world, but for the ‘Ungraded’ paper. “They have mastered the art of literature. In all other profiles you are getting strict ‘A’s yet are ungraded for French Literature?! I have sent up students for 22 years and never got an ungraded!”

Nicholls was very critical about how Cambridge has dealt with her queries. “They replied curtly to me that they are not dealing with me, but the Ministry of Education. Each time I wrote to Cambridge they would forward the letter to the Ministry to tell me to back off.” Although the school filed a complaint with Cambridge for the seven girls at a cost of $3,600, Nicholls detected a general mood in Trinidad of don’t-rock-the-boat. But she vowed to keep pushing the issue and not let it be swept under the carpet.  Recalling a few years ago a visiting Cambridge official had revealed that examiners often mark scripts while travelling on the train, she speculated that the scripts might have been lost, with the result that they were then deemed to be “ungraded.” Displaying the university’s marking scheme, she said that a pupil could get 13 to 14 marks out of a maximum of 25 for merely relating the story under study in a way relevant to the exam question.

She was sceptical about Cambridge’s claims that their chief examiner had corrected the disputed scripts, saying she thought that post was merely to administer other examiners. She opined that as a commercial enterprise, Cambridge had too much to lose by admitting it was wrong, and that it was now inconvenient for our Ministry of Education to change its rankings of awards. She is thinking of picketing tomorrow’s ceremony at which a Cambridge official will present awards to local pupils.