A FURIOUS student paying £9,000 a year slammed the University of Reading after they were handed out the WRONG test paper during a hectic exam week.

They were left stunned after hours of revision appeared to descend into chaos when they were handed an exam paper on topics they did not recognise.

However, it turned out a university blunder meant the students had been given last year's paper, sparking a mass 'walk-out' within the first five minutes.

Others attempted to answer the paper, which was exactly the same as last year's edition except the date had been changed.

One student, who did not wish to be named, said she was outraged at the university's mistake.

She said: “As a disabled student, my symptoms - which include severe anxiety - are already exacerbated by exam conditions.

“I am disappointed that an administrative error may be responsible for negatively impacting my grades and may have hindered my chances of achieving the classification I feel I deserve.

“This exam was an opportunity to apply everything I have learned over the past five years of study at the University of Reading and I am incredibly frustrated that I may be at a disadvantage due to an error that could have been easily avoided and should never have happened.

“Some students walked out of the exam once they realised it was the wrong paper.

“Also, knowing that I have paid tens of thousands of pounds in tuition fees just rubs salt in the wound."

The devastated students were sitting the Introduction to Speech and Language Pathology exam as part of their final year modules.

They were unable to answer the paper due to a change in syllabus between the two years on the module.

Professor Laurie Butler, Head of the School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading said: “Due to a human error that resulted in the mix up of an exam paper, a group of our BSc Language Science and Psychology students were given a paper based on material they were unfamiliar with.

"Upon realising the mistake, we immediately apologised to those students affected for the distress and confusion caused.

"We have also put in place arrangements, which have been communicated to the students concerned, to ensure that no one is disadvantaged in terms of their final mark for the paper.

WWe have also reviewed our procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.”