An exam board has launched an investigation after a Maths A-level paper was leaked online for the third year in a row.

Edexcel, which is owned by Pearson, confirmed that “blacked out images” of two exam questions had been circulating on social media ahead of Friday's exam.

Pictures of two questions were posted from a Twitter account - which has since been deleted - the day before the exam, with the details scribbled out. An accompanying message invited students to get in touch via a direct message “if you want tomorrow’s A-level maths, stats and mechanics paper 3 exam”.

Others claimed that the entire paper had been leaked and was circulating in group message conversations on the morning of the exam.

This is the third consecutive year that questions from Edexcel’s Maths A-level papers have surfaced online ahead of the exam.

Police launched an investigation last summer after questions were reportedly circulating online where they were being auctioned off for hundreds of pounds the night before around 50,000 students sat the A-level exam.

In 2017, last minute changes were made to the exam paper at some schools after it emerged that questions had been disseminated ahead of the exam.