Problems add up

Maths exam students at an Ulster college could count on nothing last week. They sat down to do their exam paper and soon realised that they had been given the paper they were due to sit the following week. Staff hurriedly handed out the first paper instead and then phoned the Southern Examining Group . . . which told them to give the students a half hour break at the end of their exam and then plonk them in front of the second paper. It all added up to embarrassment at East Down Institute where the students also suffered the final humiliation of having to sign a commitment to secrecy.