Pretoria - The unsolvable question on the Grade 12 maths paper 2 exam will be excluded from the marking process.
Department of Basic Education (DBE) spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the question paper will now be marked out of 143 and the mark will be upscaled to 150.
The decision comes after there was an apparent error in maths paper 2 which sparked an outcry as teachers and pupils indicated that something was wrong with question 5, which was a trigonometry question for seven marks.
After the outcry, exams quality assurer Umalusi appointed a panel to probe what led to the inclusion of the unsolvable question.
Meanwhile, the department has extended the writing of the national senior certificate exams to December 8 due to disruptions that took place.
The period started on October 31 and was initially expected to end on December 7.
The DBE said it received reports during the writing of exams that requested that some candidates be granted permission to rewrite exams in selected subjects and various reasons were provided.
Marking sessions will commence on December 10 and conclude on December 22.
At the time of the maths exam being written in November, Sifiso Kubeka, a maths teacher in one of the top-performing schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Menzi High School in uMlazi, told “The Mercury” he also found there was something wrong with the question.
“Generally, the trigonometry question is easy. But many pupils were complaining. In fact, all of them came to me about the question.
“But I heard that Umalusi will do something about it. I am not sure if it will be removed, but I hope they look at it,” said Kubeka.
IOL