The body which is supposed to make sure that exam boards get things right has itself set an unclear advanced level exam question.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is the quango charged with ensuring all runs smoothly during the exams.

Its chairman, Sir William Stubbs, told MPs on Wednesday morning that the 2002 exam season, just starting, would not see the sort of problems that had caused so many complaints last year.

As he was speaking, the QCA was accepting that it had been less than clear in the way it had presented an exam question.

'No excuses'

Sixth formers contacted BBC News Online about a question in the Key Skills communication paper on Tuesday which asked them to discuss two "images" in two source booklets.

But there were three images in the booklets - a silhouette at the top of one, and two photographs in the main text in each.

The QCA said it should have been obvious to candidates that they were being asked to consider the two photographs, not the banner image at the top.

But it accepted that the use of the word "images" rather than "photographs", and the lack of labelling, introduced a potential confusion.

The QCA's chief officer, Beverley Evans, said: "We make no excuses and this error should not have happened, but we have made sure no student will suffer as a result."

Chief examiners had been alerted and it was their job to make a fair decision about the question, looking over the paper as a whole.

Pass mark

The question is worth 10% of the test marks and the test is worth half of the overall key skills qualification, with a student's portfolio of work throughout the year also being taken into account.

The test is a "pass or fail" type - there are no grade boundaries.

Chief examiners will get together when the students' papers are in and decide among themselves where the pass mark will fall.

Ms Evans made the point that students could retake the test as often as they wished - it is available with different questions five times a year, rising to six from September.

But the episode has done little to inspire confidence in the system.

Student Stephen Ellwood, of Bluecoat School in Oldham, said: "This was my first exam this year and the results were not encouraging."

Shortage of examiners

Giving evidence to the Commons education select committee, QCA chairman, Sir William Stubbs, was asked about the exam timetabling problems schools faced with the introduction of AS-levels last year.

He said he was "more sanguine that this summer will be very much quieter".

But he also confirmed that the big English exam boards - Edexcel, AQA and OCR - were struggling to find enough examiners.

He said there was "pressure on markers, to get sufficient markers to handle the choice, and there's no getting away from that".

Exam marking was "a very demanding task", he said.

Other problems

Other glitches have also arisen which have been spotted in advance, with corrections sent out to test centres.

This happened with a Key Skills numeracy paper on Monday, for instance.

But in another Key Skills exam, information and communication technology on 9 May, teachers have reported multiple possible correct answers.

Stuart Stockley, head of ICT at Highfields School in Wolverhampton, said four possible responses were given for one question.

"Three of the responses were possibly correct answers and the fourth was also possible if the candidates were used to a particular piece of software," he said.