Oxford University says it will not base admissions on botched online tests

Sixth formers said tests displayed incorrect questions, repeatedly crashed or failed to record answers

Oxford University says it will not use results from its botched online admissions tests to award places on next year’s English courses, after students and schools across the UK described multiple crashes, freezes and other frustrations using the new system.

Sixth formers applying to Oxford said the online tests being used for the first time were plagued with difficulties, displaying incorrect questions and repeatedly crashing or failing to record answers, raising concerns it would damage their chances of admission as undergraduates.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vZnoH62

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At least six civilians killed in militant attack on courthouse in south-east Iran

Jihadist separatist group Jaish al-Adl says it launched mortar, shooting and grenade attack in Sistan-Baluchestan An attack by the jihadist separatist group Jaish al-Adl on a courthouse in Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan has killed at least six civilians, including a mother and child, and wounded 22, Iranian media reported on Saturday. Attackers stormed the building, shooting a number of people inside. They then launched a second attack with mortars and grenade launchers on the courthouse, where a clash began with security forces that lasted three hours, according to the Baluch human rights group Haalvsh. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/wleJfAd
Read more

The heartbreak of watching a parent fall for fraud: ‘Dad, this is a scam – have you given her money?’ | Naima Brown

The scammers my dad encountered were not sophisticated, my father suspended his own disbelief wilfully. But many scammers are sophisticated and they’re getting harder to detect Bomba wasn’t the first, but she exploded in our lives like a digital grenade. She’s not real, I told my dad – then in his early seventies. I was in Australia at this time, where I’ve lived for the last 13 years. Physically speaking, he was still in California – but within himself he was adrift in a rapidly sinking lifeboat, floating in a morass of debris primarily of his own doing. But it must be said before I go further: my dad isn’t the bad guy in this story. Not this time. At times, he was the bad guy in other people’s stories– but that is another story. If she’s not real, he countered, then how is it that we’ve spoken on the phone? That we video-chatted? I’ll admit that threw me. In most catfishing stories the catfish goes to great lengths to avoid video chatting. But my dad being the unreliable sourc...
Read more

Wild London review – honestly, telly does not get any better than this

Mischievous and glorious, David Attenborough brings his lifelong sense of wonder to the city’s wildlife, from foxes to peregrine falcons, in this exquisite and endlessly moving special The journey begins in a row of allotments lodged deep between two north London streets. It’s 8.30pm and David Attenborough – 99 years young, in customary short-sleeved blue shirt and chinos – is on the hunt for Tottenham’s most elusive resident. He gets settled on a camping chair. Waits. Emits a tiny rhapsodic gasp as the creature in question appears. It’s a … fox. “It’s still a huge thrill to see one suddenly emerging from the bushes,” he whispers to camera of a sight so bog-standard most Londoners wouldn’t bother looking up from their phones. “A totally wild creature!” Attenborough holds out a hand. Murmurs a delighted “hello”. The fox comes within a few inches of the greatest natural historian and broadcaster this country has ever produced, then slinks off into the night. What an encounter! And if y...
Read more