Students were able to access a Sociology examination paper on Moodle days before the examination started. The Sociology Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr Ali Meghji, wrote to students today to assure them that “no student will be unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged,” while he also said: “We are sorry that the exam experience was not as we would have wished”.

SOC1, an introductory paper in Sociology, is taken primarily by first-year HSPS students but also borrowed by students taking other courses such as PBS.

Students are able to access the course on Moodle 72 hours prior to the examination but the link to download the examination paper only becomes clickable at the time the examination is scheduled to begin.

The actual exam took place on Monday (12/06). However, Varsity understands that the link was clickable on Friday (9/06), giving students access to the paper before the examination. The mistake was reported to the HSPS Department and the paper was taken down soon after. Writing to students, Dr Meghji stated that the error was due to a “manual mistake that did not get caught by quality control”.

An HSPS first-year who wished to remain anonymous said: “As a student who was actually unaware of the early release until they had handed in their answers at 2:06 on the Monday of the exam, I am very disappointed to hear they were released on Friday. This feels incredibly unfair given some people have the questions before and some didn’t”.

They felt that it was a “waste of everyone’s time given how much effort goes into devising the paper and attempting to ensure it is as fair as possible for everyone”.

A student also quipped: “In fact I expect Weber would have a lot to say on this particular show of unfortunate bureaucratic dysfunction; too bad I didn’t know about it before, or it could have been a very informative example in my essay”.

Another student taking the course said that “backup questions” to “replace the prematurely released paper” would have been “the only way to make sure everyone writes the exam under the same conditions, which is the least all students deserve”. Varsity understands that the question paper was not changed.

The HSPS student representative Ariana Strait said the early release had caused “significant frustration and upset within the student cohort”.

“Part of it I believe is over a lack of transparency between the department and students as there was no communication regarding what has happened. The primary worry is that some students have an unfair advantage”.

“My understanding is that Moodle keeps the data regarding who and when has accessed questions but I’m unsure on how this will be used”.

Strait also spoke of the format of the HSPS exams this year, highlighting how they were open book, five hours instead of three, and able to be taken physically anywhere.

They finished by saying: “Even though we had relatively relaxed exams and it’s only first year, not every student is the same. Some people have academic scholarships etc which can lead exacerbate anxiety in regards to exam conditions and unfairness”.