Dundalk IT students told to resit test after exam ‘compromised’

Final-year agriculture students in Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) have been told they all must retake an exam, after a test sat last week was "compromised" due to students gaining access to the exam questions beforehand.

About 20 students taking a class on farm management sat their end-of-year exam on May 14th. On Monday the college became aware a number of students had gained sight of the exam questions prior to the test.

As a result college authorities took the decision that all students would have to retake the test, and anyone unable to sit the two-hour exam on Friday will have to wait until August to retake it.

The college has launched an investigation to establish how some students got access to the exam questions prior to the test.

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In a message to students, the college said the first test “is now void” due to the “breach of examination security”.

The message from a staff member in the examinations office, seen by The Irish Times, apologised to the students.

“This may come as a shock to many of you and I am sorry for the stress and inconvenience it may cause,” the message said.

Final-year module

The exam was for a final-year module of the four-year BA (Honours) degree in Agriculture.

Students in the course finished their final scheduled exam on Wednesday, expecting to start celebrating finishing college. However, they were informed shortly after finishing that exam they would have to resit last week’s test in two days’ time.

In a statement, head of the school of health and science Dr Edel Healy said as a result of the “isolated incident”, all students in the class were required to resit the exam.

“After careful consideration, this approach was deemed to be the most appropriate and fair course of action for our students,” she said.

The college has extended the library evening opening hours this week, to allow students to study ahead of the exam

As part of the investigation into the exam paper leak, an “extensive review” of DkIT’s overall examination procedures would be carried out, she said.

It is understood a significant enough number of students were believed to have seen the exam questions beforehand to necessitate the entire class retaking the test.

The college has extended the library evening opening hours this week, to allow students to study ahead of the exam.

“The protection of academic integrity and assessment is of the utmost importance at DkIT, and the institute follows best practice to ensure security of its examinations process,” Dr Healy said.