A first-year Italian exam was cancelled this morning, after concerns were raised about a “serious problem” with the exam paper.

The paper in question was ITA1, which is the ‘Use of Italian’ paper for ab initio students. The exam was supposed to take place at 9:00 this morning, in Lecture Block Room 3 at the Sidgwick Site.

First-year students from two colleges said that they had heard answers to the paper had been leaked. One fresher, who sat her exams in college, told Varsity “The exams officer told me that the answers had accidentally been put online last night, but that was all she knew”.

Speaking to Varsity, Patrick Graney, a first-year student of Italian at Gonville and Caius, said “we sat down in the room and after being read out instructions for the exam, someone came into the room and told the invigilator something, and they said that there would be a delay of a few minutes. Then this person came back and said that all year 1 Italian students had to leave (there were other exams being taken in the room at the same time) so we all left, slightly confused.”

Graney said that the Senior Secretary of the Department of Italian told students that there was a “serious problem with the exam paper” and spoke outside the Lecture Block about the possibility of rescheduling it.

He said they were later told by a University official that the exam had been cancelled fully, and that the Faculty “would decide how to rectify the situation and how to make sure no one is disadvantaged”.

A fresher from Newnham told Varsity “just before the exam should have started, all the Italian students were asked to leave the room. We were more or less just told that there had been a serious problem with our exam paper; the Faculty didn't specify exactly what happened.”

“At first it sounded like they were going to reschedule the exam,” she said, “but then later they told us it would be cancelled completely. There are some people who still want it to be rescheduled instead though, so I can't say I'm entirely sure what's actually going to happen.”

“After the cancellation was announced we were all quite shocked, really,” Graney said, “We asked what would be done but the Secretary said it was down to the faculty. A lot of us had this down as our strongest paper so we were very angry to be told that it had been cancelled. Many were very upset at the matter”.

A University spokesperson said: “The examination for MML Tripos Part 1A, Ab Initio Italian, ITA1 Use Of Italian, which was due to take place today at 9am, has been unable to proceed after the discovery of a procedural irregularity.

“The Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and the Board of Exams hope to have this matter resolved shortly and be able to announce what measures will be put in place, which may include a revised examination date.”

“If you have any further queries, please contact your College tutor.”