Fresher who ‘cheated on exams using WhatsApp’ could miss out on uni

A 18-year-old was predicted A*AA, however she has been disqualified by AQA for her involvement in a WhatsApp group. A sociology study group was made to discuss revision notes and tips, but someone listed the topics that were to come up in the exam when they found out from a friend who sat the exam early after it clashed with another.

She told The Tab: “I’ve been disqualified on the basis that I’m ‘guilty by association’ and have been made out to be a ‘cheat’. I was in this chat for my own revision purposes and never asked such topics to be leaked.”

The student took A-levels in sociology, psychology and history and AS English at Wanstead High School.

She is appealing AQA’s decision and is still hoping to get the grades to go to uni in September: “I’ve applied to the university of Kent to do law which I need AAB for. Ive had my mind and heart set on Kent since the start, and I have no insurance choice.”

Her disqualification from sociology could lead to her being capped at a score of 15, jeopardising her entry grades as her A* prediction was in sociology.

“What a lot of news articles haven’t made clear is that it wasn’t questions nor answers that were leaked, but topics e.g. ‘Postmodernity’. Just a list of three.”

“I didn’t report these before the exam because I didn’t believe them to be true, and I stated this in the chat, using the phrase ‘we’re being mugged off’.”

She added: “Being a silly teen, once my exams were over I just wanted to leave school and be free since all my friends were already on summer. That’s why I didn’t report it afterwards.

“I also felt it hadn’t affected me personally since I had revised these topics all year. I was predicted an A* in sociology after receiving an A last year.”

“The person who posted the questions into the group chat had a friend who had an exam clash, so the pupil with the exam clash left the hall during the exam to tell her friends on a Facebook group using her phone. I imagine she must have gone to the toilet or something”

She has also been criticised for her photographs online when the story was covered in the Daily Mail: “About half of the comments [on the story] are about my pictures. It’s mostly just ‘why is she making stupid faces’, ‘she looks 38 not 18’, ‘her face is scaring me’, and ‘why is she going to the papers and posting selfies?’.

“I mean I’m quite thick skinned, things like that don’t tend to offend me, but if it might hurt someone else if they were in my position.”