Oxford University’s online admissions tests were shambolic

Mon 23 Oct 2023 18.03 BST

It was the worst experience in 16 years of running exams in a secondary school, writes Paul McGillivray. Plus a letter from Christopher Bowen

‘The fault lies entirely with the university and its provider. These tests should all be discounted.’ Photograph: Keith Morris/Alamy

This week’s Oxford admission tests weren’t as bad as they were portrayed in your article (Oxford University says it will not base admissions on botched online tests, 20 October). They were worse – the most shambolic experience in the 16 years I’ve been running exams in a secondary school. Worse even than when they tried to switch the biomedical admissions tests to online a few years back.

Colleagues and I were unsettled by a two-hour online training session the week before, with presenters unable to give clear answers to questions, at one point saying: “Well we haven’t seen these tests either,” and devoting time to scenarios about what they expected to go wrong.

Source: The Guardian.