You might think a pupil would be marked down for writing a note on their English exam telling tutors to "F**k off".
But one was rewarded with extra marks - because it was better than leaving the page blank and demonstrates "nominal skills".
The pupil was given 7.5 per cent by top marker Peter Buckroyd for leaving the expletive on his paper.
And incredibly, the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) chief examiner said adding an exclamation mark would have taken the score to 11 per cent by showing proper punctuation.
Mr Buckroyd said: "It would be wicked to give it zero, it does show some very basic skills, conveying some meaning and some spelling.
"It shows more skills than somebody who leaves the page blank."
However, AQA, Britain's biggest GCSE examiner, distanced itself from the comments. It said: "If a script contains obscenities, examiners are instructed to contact AQA, which will advise them.
"Expletives would either be disregarded or sanctioned."
Exam boards Edexel and the Joint Council for Qualifications agreed such a case should be marked down or disqualified.
Asked about the case during Commons question time, Schools Secretary Ed Balls said the AQA had "made it clear" the use of bad language was inappropriate and should have been marked down.
But new exam regulator Ofqual appeared less concerned, saying: "It's for awarding bodies to develop their mark scheme and for their markers to award marks in line with that scheme."
(Daily Mirror)
03/07/08 @ 00:10