SINGAPORE – When she received her GCE A-Level results on Friday (Feb 23) afternoon, Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) student Zou Peipei was handed an additional piece of blue paper and told to attend a separate briefing.

That got her worried.

“I thought there was something wrong with my results. Maybe there was something wrong with the marking,” said the 19-year-old, who then noticed that a number of her classmates had been similarly served with the mysterious note.

Packed into a lecture room with 59 other students, Ms Zou later found out that one of her four examination scripts for Chemistry had been stolen while being delivered to an examiner for grading in the United Kingdom. The stolen scripts have yet to be recovered.

NYJC students were not the only ones affected. A total of 238 students from four JCs - NYJC, Anderson Junior College (AJC), Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC), and Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) - had their H2 Chemistry Paper 3 exam scripts stolen last November.

“I have never heard of such a thing before…it’s like you never imagine it would happen,” said Ms Zou, who scored a B for the subject. She added that she was not likely to retake the paper, given that the grade was within expectation.  

Affected students in the other schools who spoke to TODAY similarly reacted with shock and surprise to news of the incident, which the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said was a first.

“When I heard the news, my first thought was ‘why the security so lousy?’” exclaimed HCI student Ong Wan Xuan, who said she would re-take the exam paper as she had obtained a B grade.

The 18-year-old added: “Yes, it’s no one’s fault. But obviously those who got an A will be satisfied. For me, I am going to retake the paper even if it means studying the subject again. There’s no harm in doing that.”

Reexamination is not compulsory, with the SEAB and Cambridge Assessment deciding to grade the affected students based on their performance in the other three chemistry papers. For students who are unsatisfied with their grades, arrangements have been made to give them the option to re-sit for the paper on April 25 or in November. They have to register by March 9 to do so.

A spokesperson for HCI said most of the affected students have indicated that they would not be considering the re-examination, adding: “We are heartened that the affected students and their parents have been understanding.”

NYJC’s principal Mr Low Chun Meng said he and the teaching staff were glad that the affected students kept their calm when they were told about the theft. “For students who are keen on the re-examination, we will do what we can to help these students, be it in terms of providing consultations or access to the school’s facilities,” he added.

AJC and ACJC did not respond to queries from TODAY.

Despite the unusual nature of the incident, some of the affected students said they were satisfied with the explanation from their schools and SEAB officials, as well as how their grades were determined.

HCI student Chan Yi Xuan, who scored an A for the subject, said he was “impressed” by SEAB’s transparency in explaining the situation. “I’m satisfied with how they determined our grades. It seems fair and I’m not saying this because I got an A,” the 18-year-old added.

Cambridge Assessment, which had handled the stolen exam scripts, has offered its “sincere apologies” to the affected students. The scripts had been sent to the UK for grading after the students sat for the exam on Nov 10 last year.