Lost in translation: Printing error hits VCE language exam

A printing error has been blamed for confusion over last month’s Persian language VCE exam, but authorities say no student will be disadvantaged from the mistake.

The exam, sat by 104 students, included a passage written in Persian, which was to be translated into English.

But one source familiar with the matter, but not authorised to speak publicly, described the passage as “a stream of gobbledygook in some kind of semi-plausible Middle Eastern script”.

Persian script is based on Arabic script, but with additional letters, and is written in cursive and read right to left.

The authority is on high alert during this year’s exams cycle for any errors after last year’s VCE was marred by controversy when questions on dozens of exam papers were inadvertently published before tens of thousands of students sat their tests.

The VCE exams also failed to go smoothly in 2023 and 2024, with serious errors uncovered in the maths exams in both of those years.

A spokesman for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority told this masthead that after exam supervisors were alerted to the issue on the Persian paper, students were told to disregard the Persian language translation and to read the English prompt to that question, which was printed correctly.

He said the Persian language font had not been loaded correctly into the printer that produced the exam.

He also dismissed speculation that the mistake might have been caused by an AI “hallucination”, saying that AI was not used in the production of the exam.

“No student will be disadvantaged due to this printing issue,” the spokesman said.

The VCAA says that any issues that emerge in the marking of the Persian exam, as a result of the printing issue, will be dealt with under a process designed to ensure that no student’s grades suffer unfairly.

Some students sitting last week’s English exam, were unhappy after being confronted with a question on the paper about a poem which had not appeared on the VCAA’s list of works to study.

The exam had a quote from American poet Mary Oliver, with students asked to respond to the text.

But the poem, October, was not included in the list of 38 works to be studied, and some students said they were thrown by the question or had to “bluff their way through”.

But VCAA chief executive Andrew Smith said students could choose from two prompts and the quote was selected for its relevance to a central theme throughout Oliver’s work.

“Teachers are not expected to teach all 38 poems and students are not required to refer to the extract in their response,” Smith said.

VCE exams continue after the Melbourne Cup public holiday and end with language exams on November 19.