Alex Rodrigues      Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – A logistical error in the distribution of test booklets in a civil service exam for high-paying positions in the Senate will mean that thousands of candidates will have to take the test again. It is estimated that over 10,000 candidates for the positions of systems analysts, system support analysts and nurses will have to repeat the exam. Some of them paid as much as R$190 to take the exam and spent months studying for it.

In the case of many candidates who were supposed to take the test for system support analysts it seems they received the test for systems analysts. That happened in at least four classrooms at a testing center in the Federal District. In one of the classrooms where around 50 people were to take the test, the error came to light when it was discovered that a question that had been corrected on a blackboard before the test was not on the test.

 Some candidates saw the error before taking the exam and left the testing areas, while others did not know of the problem and continued to take the test. It was late in the afternoon when the testing authority (the Fundação Getulio Vargas) announced it would have to cancel part of the exam. Even so, some candidates only found out about the problems at around 8:00 pm when they were informed that their exams had been annulled. A lot of candidates complained about the confusion, poor communication and lack of information.

Some candidates went straight to a nearby police station to register complaints.

Civil service exams (“concursos”) are very big business in Brazil. The promise is a high-paying job in the government with a sort of tenure (civil servants can be fired in Brazil but it is not common and the removal process is complicated).

Testing took place this Sunday (March 11) in the morning (for technical positions) and the afternoon (for analysts and nurses, among others) in 26 states and the Federal District. The positions in the Senate offered pay of between R$13,800 and R$23,800 that were so highly coveted that over 157,000 candidates took the tests. They were disputing 246 openings.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Prova para analista de sistemas do Senado também será anulada

Link - Problemas na distribuição de cadernos de questões levam FGV a anular provas de concurso do Senado