Fabienne Ruttledge fears the fail means she will not now be able to study law at university, where she has an offer conditional on getting three A grades. She told the Times that while revising for her A levels, she joined a WhatsApp thread which was discussing past papers and revision techniques. Before the exam, though, someone posted the actual questions. It’s thought someone might have sat the exam earlier than everyone else because of a scheduling clash.
Ms Ruttledge saw the message before the exam and posted a reply saying that she thought it was a hoax. “I just presumed this was posted maliciously by someone who wanted to put us all off,” she said. “How could they know these?”
She was later told that the examining board had decided she would not receive any marks for the subjects mentioned in the post. The paper says that Wanstead High School told her she should have reported the leak, but told her that it would appeal against the examining board’s decision.
Nothing wrong with using social media as an aid to revision before an exam which this girl was doing. To prevent potential breaches wouldn’t it be better for students to hand in their phones before the exam?