German student demands to see exam questions before taking it
His freedom of information request was submitted to the education ministry
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-04-10 12:45 GMT
A clever German student has used his country's freedom of information act to request a copy of his exam questions, in advance. According to The Guardian, Simon Schräder, 17, from Münster, used the internet platform*fragdenstaat.de(“ask the state”), to ask the education ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia for “the tasks of the centrally-made Abitur examinations in the senior classes of high school in the current school year”. He was specifically invoking his state’s freedom of information law.
The platform, which is run by the Open Knowledge Foundation, is meant to help citizens use their right to see state documents, as affirmed by the freedom of information law which the west German state passed in 2006.
Accoring to reports the ministry the legally allowed one-month deadline – falling on 21 April – to comply, though his first exam is on 16 April. “If they answer in time it might fit for one exam. I did think beforehand that they probably wouldn’t send me the exams. I’m already revising, and I’m not relying on them to get back to me, " Schräder was quoted saying in the Guardian.