Reports broke over the weekend that a maths A-level exam paper had been leaked and was being sold online – for the third year in a row

This comes less than two months since School Notices posted an article about exam papers being micro-chipped in an effort to combat this very problem.

This time round sections of the A-level Maths Paper 3 were shared on various social media forums about 12 hours prior to the exam, causing exam board Edexcel to launch yet another investigation. Exam papers first appeared on Twitter, with questions being offered to students for £70, in a since-deleted post.

Speaking to the BBC, one student, Harry, 18, from Oxfordshire said, “I am an A-level student, hoping to go to the university of Bath to do computer science in September, a course that requires an A in maths to qualify. Sadly I feel that, after this week, those hopes have been crushed.

“The leak on such a wide scale; there is no way you can prove who has been advantaged or disadvantaged.

“For someone like me, who struggles with Statistics and Mechanics, I felt so happy coming out of that exam – thinking I had nailed 70-75%, which is a very good mark compared to ones I was getting previously. Then I checked my Twitter and saw that the exam was leaked. My heart sank.

“I cried in the car on the way home because I knew that my hard work and effort – staying up until 1am revising for this exam – is now worthless, as some idiots have skewed the grade boundaries for all of us.”

Pearson, the parent company of Edexcel, said “Having visited a small group of centres within scope of the investigation, we have identified one centre in serious breach of correct practice.”

“All students should be reassured we have well-established processes in place to ensure no one will be advantaged or disadvantaged, and this paper will not have to be resat.”