'Impossible' New Zealand maths exam even flummoxes teachers

A New Zealand maths exam for high school students has been criticised as “impossible” with even the brightest students left despondent and in tears at the difficulty of the questions.

New Zealand year 11 students sat the maths exams on Monday and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has since received a number of complaints regarding the unreasonable difficulty of the paper.

It is the second year in a row NZQA has been criticised for a maths exam and education minister Chris Hipkins has ordered the authority to give him a “full report on the matter”.

“We are trying to enable these kids to do well and you set an exam like this and they come out deflated, it is not giving them much hope for next year, or for maths in general,” said Logan Park High School maths teacher Amanda Fraser, who is also president of the Otago Mathematics Association.

“I think the exam was off, it was too difficult. I am concerned about the impact it has had on the self-esteem of students. We are are already fighting an uphill battle because there is a stigma around mathematics and this is definitely not helping break down the barriers students have.”

Fraser said the geometric reasoning section of the exam was the main stumbling block for average and talented students alike, and she and other maths teachers struggled to work out some of the questions for a test designed for a 15-year-old child.

One student who studied for weeks in preparation for the exam said she was thrown by the difficulty of some of the questions, which tested skills she hadn’t been taught.

“Both my parents are scientists so I have always been interested in mathematics and always almost assumed I’d go into it. It is an important subject for me,” she said.

“I struggled in the geometric reasoning section but I thought it was because I hadn’t prepared enough. A friend of mine was quite shocked, she said ‘They have never asked us to do this sort of maths in any of the practises we’ve done – what happened here?’”

Deputy chief executive assessment Kristine Kilkelly of NZQA said she believed the test was in line with the national curriculum.

“The Level 1 mathematics examination was set by a team of experienced mathematics teachers, for the right curriculum level, and is consistent with the specifications for the standard.”

An open letter from teachers is being sent to NZQA and the ministry of education raising concerns about the exam.