Shakespeare blunder means grade boundaries could be changed for English Literature GCSE

A Shakespeare blunder which rendered an essay question impossible to answer means that grade boundaries could be changed for English Literature GCSE. 

The exam board OCR was forced to issue an apology after its exam paper confused two warring families in Romeo and Juliet by wrongly implying that Tybalt was not a Capulet. 

The question asked students: "How does Shakespeare present the ways in which Tybalt’s hatred of the Capulets influences the outcome of the play? Refer to this extract from Act 1 Scene 5 and elsewhere in the play."

The paper was taken by 14,000 pupils, but some of them may have answered questions on Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice or Much Ado About Nothing, instead of Romeo and Juliet. Ofqual is likely to launch an investigation into the error, which could result in OCR being fined. 

Leo Shapiro, the chief executive of OCR wrote to schools to "reassure all teachers and students that their results will be accurate and fair".

The letter said OCR had "already adjusted the examiners’ mark scheme to reflect the different ways students answered the question", and that setting different grade boundaries was "one of the options we will consider" following an internal investigation.

Mr Shapiro ended the letter by stating: "This was an unacceptable error and we are very sorry for the impact on you and your students.

As results day approaches, we know your students may start to feel anxious and we hope this letter will go some way to reassuring them."

In a written update to schools, OCR chief executive Leo Shapiro said the exam board wanted to "reassure all teachers and students that their results will be accurate and fair".

He wrote: "We know the error has affected students’ performance in a variety of ways – not just on one question but across the whole paper."