More than 6,500 candidates have to retake the Hanoi University of Science and Technology's thinking assessment exam due to system error.

Thí sinh tham dự kỳ thi đánh giá tư duy đợt 1 năm 2024 - Ảnh: NGUYÊN BẢO — Candidates participating in the first round of thinking assessment exam in 2024 - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

On April 28, after taking the fourth round of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology's thinking assessment exam, many candidates posted on social networking forums that the morning exam team had a white screen error for 5-10 minutes before displaying the exam questions, while some candidates did not experience the error.

In the afternoon, some candidates taking the afternoon exam at Thai Nguyen and Hanoi exam sites reported that the exam system had an error and they could not complete the exam and their exam results were not recognized.

Confirm the entire crew error

This morning, April 29, Hanoi University of Science and Technology officially informed about the incident in the fourth round of thinking assessment exam, afternoon shift, April 28.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Vu Duy Hai - Head of Admissions and Career Guidance Department, Hanoi University of Science and Technology - Permanent Vice Chairman of the 2024 Thinking Assessment Test Council, on April 27 and 28, Hanoi University of Science and Technology continued to organize a large-scale thinking assessment test for nearly 14,000 candidates registered to take the test at 29 testing locations in 11 provinces/cities.

The exam session consisted of two sessions, morning and afternoon, in which the morning session had 7,130 candidates come to take the exam out of a total of 7,231 candidates registered to take the exam. The afternoon session had 6,566 candidates come to complete exam procedures out of a total of 6,720 candidates registered to take the exam.

According to Mr. Hai, the morning exam was successful, and all exam results of the candidates were recorded on the system.

"Although some candidates had to open the math reasoning test a few minutes late, it was still within the time limit of the test so it will not affect the candidates' test results," Mr. Hai informed.

During the afternoon exam session, Mr. Hai said that the technical department discovered that the exam platform system was showing signs of instability from 1:50 p.m. (40 minutes before the exam took place).

The exam steering committee decided to delay the exam start time by 60 minutes to check the system and reopened the exam time at 3:30 p.m.

"The math reasoning test was successful. Then, when we moved on to the reading comprehension test, the system showed signs of instability again.

The data synchronization services were interrupted, the candidates' papers were not updated to the server, leading to the candidates being unable to continue completing the exam. The exam steering committee decided to stop the exam team at 5:00 p.m. the same day.

The technical department determined that the cause of the error was due to the server resources of the exam platform system being overloaded due to a number of new functions being put into use to synthesize data to help invigilators screen and detect risks of exam cheating.

This function has an error and occupies system resources, thereby creating a chain effect that crashes the exam system," Mr. Hai informed.

Mr. Hai said that the school assessed that with this system error, this was the first major incident that the Examination Council had to decide to stop the exam team according to the exam regulations.

In the next exams, the School and its technology partners are committed to implementing stricter technical controls to ensure that similar incidents do not occur.

More than 6,500 candidates have to retake the exam.

Since 1:00 a.m. on April 29, the Hanoi University of Science and Technology's Thinking Assessment Examination Council has sent an email to all candidates participating in the exam on the afternoon of April 28 about the above incident and provided solutions for candidates to choose from to ensure their rights.

Accordingly, the Hanoi University of Science and Technology Thinking Assessment Examination Council decided:

- Organize make-up exams for candidates who were unable to complete the exam in the afternoon session on April 28 on May 19

- Candidates who were unable to complete the exam in the afternoon session on April 28 will be given priority to register for free in the 5th or 6th round taking place on June 8 and 9, June 15 and 16.

- For candidates who cannot arrange time to take the make-up exam on May 19, the Examination Council will refund the exam fee that they paid to the exam team on the afternoon of April 28.

Source