GAWLER year 12 students were among those who missed the SACE psychology exam last Wednesday because of an “unforeseen technical issue”.

A total of 2720 students across 164 exam centres reported multiple issues with the electronic exam, from trouble logging on, to being faced with a white, blank screen.

Gawler & District College senior Cody Schuster said he had to switch computers three times in an attempt to get his exam to work and was about an hour and a half in when he was told it would be cancelled altogether.

“I was incredibly frustrated considering I’d spent ages studying,” he said.

“…I was very confident going into the exam; I had gone over all the questions and had prepared for it. I had cue cards and had talked to teachers from universities to get a better insight into what would be in the exam.

“I was currently sitting on a B+ for psychology and I would have enjoyed getting an A – that would have been an excellent help towards my ATAR.”

Following the failed electronic exam, the SACE Board announced affected students would receive a derived result, weighted at 30 per cent of a student’s total psychology score.

The derived result uses a student’s achievement in the school assessment with their teacher’s predicted result for the exam, which draws on results of a previous trial exam or test.

SACE Board chief executive Professor Martin Westwell said an investigation is now underway with the system vendor.

“We apologise to all students that they didn’t get the experience we had planned,” he said.

“Our derived result process is better than using teachers’ predicted mark alone.

“Our analysis has shown that if we had used this method last year, 97 per cent of students would receive a final subject grade that either matched or was within one grade increment of their actual grade, for example from B to B+.

“While we acknowledge this action doesn’t make up for the stress of today, and the opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning in the exam, this process provides the fairest outcome for students.”

Gawler & District College Head of Senior School, and the exam’s chief IT invigilator Angela Karatassa said a total of nine students had attempted to sit the psychology exam, which was the fourth exam to be carried out electronically this exam period.

“We all went out to Café Sia for some hot chocolate and chips straight after, so they sat and debriefed,” she said.

“We talked about some of the greatest memories they have had at Gawler, because for a lot of them that was their last exam.

“There was a little bit of disappointment, lots of relief, but they were magnificent; they rallied around each other.”

The SACE Board said it will continue to transition to electronic exams into the future.