University of Adelaide second-year mechanical engineering students must resit exam on Friday Phillip Allgeuer, who was a University of Adelaide mechatronic engineering student ion 2010, with his car robots after he came second in 2010 Techfest. ALL second-year mechatronics students will be forced to resit a compulsory exam after a University of Adelaide bungle which left students without the information they needed to finish the test. About 230 students study the mechanical engineering subject, Mechatronics 1M, and the two-hour exam counts towards 70 per cent of their final mark for the subject. It comes after a mistake in the Year 12 Specialist Maths exam last week. The university is writing to students to apologise for the "unprecedented" mistake, and advising all affected students the exam will be rescheduled for Friday. The students first sat the exam at 9.30am today and expected to receive six pages of required formulas and data tables to complete the exam questions. But, during the reading time students realised the pages were not included among the provided exam materials. One student, who asked not to be named, said it then took staff about 30 minutes to photocopy the pages while students began completing the questions. "We needed the data and tables for three out of the four questions, so 75 per cent of it we couldn't do without it," he said. They said they would get it to us as quickly as possible. The student said the university officials then allowed the exam to become open-book part way through, which meant students could use any study materials and text books they brought along. But, expecting a closed book exam, not all students brought their study books. Those without their books were then allowed an extra half an hour to complete the exam. "Anyone who brought materials just by coincidence or luck pretty much got an advantage," he said. It seems unfair that just half of the people can pass every question without having to do much because they happened to have their books. The subject is a compulsory unit for students studying mechatronic engineering. The student said today's exam would have been the last one for most second-year students studying a mechanical engineering degree and many would have already made plans for later in the week when the exam has been rescheduled. "It would have been the last one for everyone," he said. I guess it's better and fairer than not having to do it again, but it's not the greatest thing. He said the whole exam was a "debacle." "It was unprofessional and just so disappointing," he said. A spokeswoman for the university apologised for the error. "The University apologies to all students affected by this unprecedented occurrence and will review its processes for assessment in this area," she said. There was an unexpected administrative issue in the Mechatronics 1M exam which meant that students were not assessed on the same fair and equitable basis. Students have been subsequently notified that this exam has been rescheduled for Friday to ensure the end-of-year assessment for this course meets the University's strict policy standards. The University of Adelaide manages approximately 590 exams at the end of semester two, which are completed by 55,824 students. Originally published as Adelaide uni bungle forces students to resit exam