VCE students were thrown into a spin when they faced a nonsensical question in an exam this week, prompting demands for more transparency around marking to ensure no student is disadvantaged.
A four-part question asked nearly 2000 students sitting the Music Performance exam on Monday to write chords in the minor key. However, two parts of the question included incorrect chord names.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) issued an apology to students immediately after the exam in an email sent to schools offering the subject. The authority said they received queries about the question, and sought to reassure students that they would not be disadvantaged.
"The VCAA apologises for any concerns caused by the use of this terminology. As is always our practice, the VCAA will ensure that no student is disadvantaged and all students are assessed fairly," it read.
The VCAA is not excluding the question from marking and will instead accept a "range of interpretations" to the question.
But the potential impact to a students' overall performance could be difficult to predict, with fears students were so thrown off by the question that their responses would not fit within the range of responses deemed valid by examiners.
One student speaking to Fairfax media said she ignored the "normal rules" to fit the incorrect premise of the question.
She became so confused that she applied the incorrect premise to answers in other parts of the question.
"I thought surely they won't get this wrong, it's VCAA, they can't make a mistake ... so I changed my other answers."
The year 12 student, who did not want to be named, changed them back again before finishing the paper.
Victorian Student Representative Council spokesman Matthew Sievers said he believed questions with serious flaws should be disqualified, in addition to other related parts of the question.
If the VCAA decided that a range of interpretations would be accepted, students should be told ahead of time what the correct responses would be to ensure they were on an even playing field, he said.
"Students need to have access to clear, transparent, assessment processes around VCE exams," said the Year 12 student at Bendigo Senior Secondary College.
"For students there is already so much pressure and stress associated with VCE exams, the pressure of ATARs and entrance into university. When students find out there are errors on the exam papers ... it could put students at an unfair disadvantage."
Students who believe that they were not given a fair score have the opportunity to appeal their mark with VCAA.
Director of music at Camberwell Girls' Grammar School, Jenny Meachem, said the music performance paper was only worth 20 per cent of the year's mark.
Ms Meachem, who has taught VCE and International Baccalaureate music for 20 years, did not believe it would heavily influence a students' study score.
"It's an unfortunate typo ... I think students will be treated fairly and that will come out in the examiner's report," she said.
"In an ideal world it would be a perfect paper without any concerns but these things happen from time to time unfortunately."
Errors have cropped up in exams between two to five times a year since 2013, the VCAA said.
Errors were spotted in another two exams this week - Chemistry and Physics - but the errors were picked up early and students were notified during the exam.
"The VCAA is confident that all students were notified in time," said a spokesman. "Nonetheless, the marking of these questions will be closely monitored to ensure that no student is disadvantaged.
"The VCAA apologises to students for any inconvenience caused."