Second year medical students have been told that the entire cohort will now have to resit their final exam in person due to a question issue that renders the previous exam results void.
According to a medical student, at least 80% of the questions were leaked before the exam and the Medical School uploaded the wrong paper onto the exam platform; however this is being investigated by the University.
While many students had returned home for a break in the few weeks between the end of their exams and the beginning of their summer placements, students are now being asked to return to Sheffield and continue working.
An open letter has been written by the cohort in which students insist that “this situation must be handled differently” and that “an additional emergency exam would be extremely detrimental to your students”.
In just six weeks time, all second year medical students will start hospital placements that will run until November. This proposed re-sit will cut off two weeks of their summer holiday.
One second year medic, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Personally, I don’t think we’ve had a proper break since December 2019, due to Covid. The summer holiday is very important for our well-being and mental health because it would have given us time to rest and rejuvenate in preparation for this placement.”
Alongside this open letter is a petition in which the cohort has asked people to sign in solidarity. This petition now has over 2000 signatures ranging from medical students to members of the general public and parents.
The same student explains how they were assured that “this exam would be carried out in a way that would ensure the integrity of the assessment” yet later they were told that questions had been repeated from the previous year and also leaked before the exam, despite being held in a “secure University server”.
When the cohort was first informed of the need for a re-sit, they were left without concrete information on when the exam would be held, only that this exam would be on campus in the next two weeks.
“This left many of us worried and anxious over the weekend,” a second year medic has stated.
This student said: “I have come to terms with the fact that I will have to resit this exam but what I cannot come to terms with is how the medical school has let us down.”
Whereas the previous exam was conducted online, the resit will take place in person, something that many students haven’t experienced in over a year.
The same student said: “I don’t think it’s fair that they are making us do the exam on campus this time. We have been reassured time and time again that the online method of examination is a robust system and that we would all be assessed fairly.”
This student also points out that many international students have returned to their home countries and will not be able to return to Sheffield in time for this exam.
In a briefing attended by SU President Beth Eyre, the Medical School proposed two resit dates that students will be able to choose from. They have also proposed that placements will be pushed back, making the overall placement time 11 weeks instead of 12.
The Medical School is also in the process of discussing more dates for international students who may not be able to get back to Sheffield.
A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “We’re very sorry for our students that have been affected by this and we are offering them our full support, including financial assistance for those needing to return to Sheffield to sit the replacement exam.”
Image: Pippa Coleshill