Lost in translation: Printing error hits VCE language exam

A printing error has been blamed for confusion over last month’s Persian language VCE exam, but authorities say no student will be disadvantaged from the mistake.

The exam, sat by 104 students, included a passage written in Persian, which was to be translated into English.

A passage in the VCE Persian language exam has been described as “a stream gobbledygook in some kind of semi-plausible Middle Eastern script”.Credit: Joe Armao

But one source familiar with the matter, but not authorised to speak publicly, described the passage as “a stream of gobbledygook in some kind of semi-plausible Middle Eastern script”.

The authority is on high alert during this year’s exams cycle for any errors after last year’s VCE was marred by controversy when questions on dozens of exam papers were inadvertently published before tens of thousands of students sat their tests.

The VCE exams also failed to go smoothly in 2023 and 2024, with serious errors uncovered in the maths exams in both of those years.

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A spokesman for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority told this masthead that after exam supervisors were alerted to the issue on the Persian paper, students were told to disregard the Persian language translation and to read the English prompt to that question, which was printed correctly.

He said the Persian language font had not been loaded correctly ino the printer that produced the exam.

He also dismissed speculation that the mistake might have been caused by an AI “hallucination”, saying that AI was not used in the production of the exam.

“No student will be disadvantaged due to this printing issue,” the spokesman said.

The VCAA says that any issues that emerge in the marking of the Persian exam, as a result of the printing issue, will be dealt with under a process designed to ensure that no student’s grades suffer unfairly.

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