The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has apologised for a botch-up in yesterday's maths exam.
The authority this morning said there was a mistake in a question in the level 3 statistics paper.
Students sitting the three-hour exam were unable to give a correct answer because of an error in a table.
NZQA deputy chief executive Kristine Kilkelly today apologised to students, saying no student who struggled with the question would be disadvantaged.
"In the examination there was an error in a data table in of one of the three questions that meant students couldn't answer part of that question," she said.
"We are committed to ensuring that no student will be disadvantaged as a result."
She said the error slipped through despite comprehensive quality assurance processes.
The error would be taken into account when papers were marked.
"The examination papers will be marked as normal by the panel that has been made aware of the issue - they will take this into account when grading students work," she said.
MathsNZ and secondary school maths teacher Jake Wills said the mistake should not have happened. It made it impossible to answer half a question on a three question paper.
He said the table error was in a probability concepts question.
Students were expected to work out an answer that should have added up to 100% using a table that added up to 121.1%.
"It means that the entire question is not valid and you can't do that question," Mr Wills said.
"Basically more than half of the last question was impossible."
He said some senior students were so distraught it affected how they attempted the rest of the exam.
One Kapiti College student posted on a maths forum: "I died because I had no idea how to finish that goddamn table and then I didn't even try with the next one because I just lost all confidence of knowing how to do it."
Mr Wills said teachers were shocked such a serious error had managed to get through after earlier issues with exams.
"There is supposed to be a rigorous checking system in place for exams and that got through and it shouldn't have."
This is not the first time students have encountered problems with maths exams this year: 170 complained to NZQA after a level one algebra exam was deemed too difficult.
The Maths Common Assessment Task exam reduced students to tears. Teachers and students complained it was two curriculum levels too high and involved components not seen in previous papers.
