We caught a student using an electronic dictionary is a written Functional Skills English exam. Initially this was not spotted as the exam contained students both taking Maths and English and the device looked like a calculator.
Disclaimer: The exam was run fully to JCQ regulations and the signs regarding "Electonic devices" were present and the full ICE notices were read before the start of the exam.
However, the student has English as a second language and dictionaries are allowed for the exam. The student claims not to have understood the distinction between being allowed a dictionary and not being allowed an electronic one because all of the notices regarding electonic devices always refer to mobile phones and MP3 players. The device was used openly - it was on the desk the whole time and no attempt was made to hide it.
Have any of you had a similar situation, and how do you prevent it happening? I am now considering changing the layout of such "mixed" exams to separate those where calculators are the normal and those that aren't, but calculators are not "banned" from most English exams (even if there is no benefit in having one).
Duncan
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