Some A-level papers voided for students after exams leaked online

A-level students in several countries, including the UK, have had their exam papers voided after it emerged they had been leaked online.

Cambridge International Education, the exam board affected, said it had “moved quickly to put alternative measures in place for impacted students”.

Some of those students will receive “assessed marks” based on how they did in other parts of the course.

“We know how frustrating and disappointing this incident has been for students taking these particular subjects, and their families and schools,” a spokesperson said.

Physics papers which were sat last week had to be voided, while some of the same exam board’s maths papers were also leaked earlier this month.

It is mostly international students who are affected, the exam board says, but the papers are also sat by some students in independent schools across the UK.

They are different from Cambridge OCR exams taken in UK state schools.

The physics exam leak happened on 20 May, affecting students around the world.

In a statement online, the exam board said its priority was to make sure it was fair to students “who did not cheat, which is the vast majority”.

Affected students’ marks for the exam will be disregarded, with a mark instead being calculated for each student based on their performance in other components in the syllabus.

Upcoming physics papers have been replaced as a “precautionary step”, but students’ results dates remain unchanged, the exam board said, meaning grades will be issued on time and in line with university offer deadlines.

Earlier this month, maths papers were also leaked, with Cambridge International saying the “theft” of the papers was subject to an active investigation.

Again, the exam board said the papers would not be used to award final exam results.

One AS level maths paper will use assessed marks, and a second will have a replacement exam in early June.

The exam board confirmed that one component of a computer science exam had also been circulated internationally.

Over 5,000 schools around the world offer Cambridge International Education’s AS and A-levels, in 138 countries, according to its website.

A spokesperson said it “remains rare for the integrity of an exam to be compromised”, but that it is a “threat faced by exam boards around the world”.

The exam board has also warned students that many purported exam paper leaks being shared on social media are fake, designed to exploit the exam stress students and their families are under.