Up to 1000 students at the University of Sydney are in limbo after their final exam was abruptly cancelled on Friday morning due to fears the exam had been compromised.
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Commerce students sitting their final exam for the compulsory business insights unit had just begun reading the exam paper when they were interrupted by an announcement from the examiner, a student told Fairfax Media.
The decision was made after faculty staff learnt of a "potential breach in the security of the exam script", according to an email sent to students on Friday afternoon.
"We went into the exam and sat down," the student, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
"They did the standard pre-exam stuff and handed out the exams.
"About six minutes into reading time, the examiner said: 'Close your exams - I've just been informed this exam has been compromised.'
"We sat there for about 25 minutes - we weren't allowed to talk. It was the same conditions, but no exam," the student said.
A spokesman for the university said this kind of decision was extremely rare.
"We believed it was imperative to take immediate action to protect the integrity of the assessment process," the email to students read.
"We therefore made the decision to cancel this morning's exam."
The spokesman was unable to say what led staff to believe the exam had been compromised, but said an investigation had commenced.
The exam has been rescheduled for 6pm on Friday, but no venue had been provided at the time of publishing.
The student said there was "a lot of frustration" among her peers.
"I know one girl who has to travel 1?? hours into uni for the exam, then went home 1?? hours, and now has to turn around and come back."
With other exams already scheduled, the student said it would be difficult for the university to make other arrangements at short notice.
The cancellation threw students' end-of-year plans into chaos.
"It's annoying for me because it was meant to be my last exam. I'm in limbo - I don't know when I'm finishing so I can't go ahead with my end-of-year plans," the student said.
"There's lots of international students who have finished lease agreements and booked flights home."
The university said the replacement exam would have the same structure and weighting as the original exam, and warned "any student found guilty of misconduct risks disciplinary proceedings including expulsion".
