Computer glitch worries college students in China

BEIJING: A software error caused two days of worry for 260,000 college candidates in east China's Anhui Province when the results of a 32-point question in the exam were omitted from their final marks.

Technicians failed to install six bytes of the software, resulting in the failure to collate the results of question 39 in a 300-score section of the college entrance exam, director of the Anhui Education Department, Cheng Yi said.

The failure affected 260,000 liberal arts candidates who sat the exam on June 7 and 8 in Anhui.

The error was found on Tuesday when authorities rechecked the results of the exam after candidates had complained that there was a big gap between their marks and what they believed they should have got.

The scores of the college candidates were released on Monday in Anhui.

Candidates in Anhui got marks ranging from zero to 28 in question 39, Cheng said.

All the marks of the candidates affected had been recalculated and released on Wednesday. The admission mark lines for universities were also readjusted.

The education department said they also conducted checks on other subjects, but found no abnormal results.

The college entrance exam to a great extent decides the fate of candidates as many regard it as an opportunity to change their lives.

This year, around 9.5 million people sat the exam, which has a maximum score of 750 in all the sections.