Students and parents of students have started a petition, asking the University of Malta to compensate their MATSEC marks for Italian, Spanish and German language 'listening' exams, due to poor audio quality from the speakers in the room.
The exams were held at De La Salle college, and thus far, the online petition has been signed by 421 people. Those persons signing, sign the following letter: "To who may this concern, I am signing as I am terribly disappointed as the sound was terrible. We payed for fair assesment and good quality and not for terrible quality."
One person in a comment accompanying their signature wrote: "I sat for italian and german listening comprehension at De La Salle. The speakers were awful and I barely could understand a word. This affected my performance in the exam of course, as if the sound was good I would have understood much better and I definately would have done better. This is very unfair on us students as we have worked really hard to do well in these exams, and because of this we wouldn't get the mark that we deserve."
Another said: "It is a total disrespect towards us students , we are going through enough stress and all we need is this. These marks effect our future and nobody seems to care."
In reply, the University of Malta said MATSEC received numerous complaints and will be investigating the matter further to determine the quality of the recording used during the exam and to decide on the course of action to be followed up.
A total of just over 1,600 students sat for the Italian SEC exam today at De La Salle School and at the Examination Centre in Victoria, Gozo. So far, MATSEC has not received any complaints from candidates sitting for the exam in Gozo. This component accounts for 21% of the global mark.
Students sitting for the exam at De La Salle College were assigned to 22 different rooms. MATSEC makes use of a master system which ensures that the recording reaches different rooms simultaneously.
The venue has already been used for the listening comprehension components for Arabic, Spanish and German.
De La Salle College is used for these listening components given that the venue is best suited to meet the demands of simultaneous play-backs for such examinations. Prior to each component, MATSEC officials conduct a pilot-test of the recording. This was also held for the Italian listening comprehension. MATSEC will undertake rigorous re-testing of the system to ensure that no further problems arise in upcoming Listening Comprehension examinations.
MATSEC said it wanted to reassure students that it will be taking the necessary measures to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged as a result of technical problems alleged to have taken place today.
The petition can be viewed here.