This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An investigation has been launched after an A-level maths paper was circulated online before the exam.

Images of the test paper by Edexcel appeared on social media on Thursday afternoon. The exam board’s parent company, Pearson, said the images “were circulated in a very limited way” before students sat the exam on Friday.

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

“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.”

Two questions from the paper first appeared on Twitter in a since-deleted post which offered students the whole paper for £70.

It is not the first time Pearson has had maths papers leaked. Last year, an A-level maths paper apparently appeared for sale online the night before thousands of students sat the exam.

The company was also forced to make last-minute changes to two A-level papers in 2017 after receiving reports that some students had gained access to them in advance.

Both leaks were investigated by the police, with evidence passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration over whether criminal charges should be brought.

In April, it was revealed that Pearson would pilot a scheme in which exam papers would be microchipped to track the date, time and location of each bundle.

An online petition calling for the exam board to take the leak into consideration when it set grade boundaries has been signed by hundreds of students.

The petition’s creator, Jenny Li, described the situation as “very unfair” for students who had not seen the paper before the exam.

A student who sat the exam told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was “frustrated” by the leak.

“I’m not frustrated because I feel like I absolutely failed the paper; it wasn’t that kind of frustration,” he said.

“It’s more the frustration that I’ve spent two years studying maths A-level only to realise that some students through some sort of opportunity could have not learned anything for two years – and just spent £70 and got an A-level.”