Collective hallucination? WP MP Jamus Lim unconvinced by official explanation on alleged discrepancy in O-Level English Oral Exam

Sengkang Member of Parliament Jamus Lim (Workers' Party) has expressed doubt over the official explanation regarding an alleged discrepancy in the O-Level English Oral Exam held on July 15. Around 432 candidates claimed to have seen a different question during their preparation compared to the one presented by their examiners. During a recent Parliament session, Senior Minister of State for Education Janil Puthucheary stated that the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) had carried out a comprehensive investigation, finding no evidence of system malfunction, inconsistency in the prompts shown to candidates and examiners, or any cybersecurity incident.

Associate Professor Lim had previously questioned this in Parliament, suggesting that the SEAB might be implying a collective hallucination among the candidates. When asked about this, Puthucheary pointed out the differences in the phrases reported by the students and stated that both their statements and the technical assessment were examined.

However, Associate Professor Lim was not satisfied with the responses given. He expressed his continued skepticism, finding it implausible that hundreds of people could have colluded to report the same issue after the fact, and questioned the lack of any anomalous occurrences, considering the lack of prior history of such reports.

He argued against dismissing the issue based on the varied responses, noting that human recollections often differ in detail while still capturing the main picture.