The test, introduced by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority last May, was mocked because pupils were able to gain more than half of the marks without showing any knowledge of the plays.

Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, demanded an urgent explanation from the QCA after The Times highlighted the criticisms of teachers, who described the questions in the exam as “pathetic”.

Officials initially defended the test as “rigorous” when the row erupted in February. But Ken Boston, the QCA’s chief executive and a Shakespeare enthusiast, sided with Mr Clarke and ordered a rethink.

But 600,000 students will have to take the existing exam next May, despite its shortcomings, because no replacement paper will be ready before 2005 at the earliest.

The QCA is sending questionnaires to English teachers in 350 secondary schools to ask what they believe should be in the revised test.

Dr Boston said: “QCA is charged by Parliament with producing the best quality tests and assessment regime possible within the policy framework set by Government. To do this we listen carefully to what teachers and other education professionals tell us about how the current arrangements are working.”

The full English test consists of a reading comprehension paper on which pupils have to answer questions on three linked pieces of text, an essay and the Shakespeare exam.

Previously pupils wrote one 75-minute essay based on scenes from their chosen play. But this year’s paper was split into two parts, with a majority of marks awarded for pupils’ writing skills rather than their understanding of Shakespeare.

One question, ostensibly relating to Henry V, simply asked pupils to write about people they admired. Another stated that Malvolio from Twelfth Night was a character who “does not like people to have fun and enjoy themselves”. It then asked pupils to imagine they were Malvolio and to write a speech for assembly on why chips should be banned from the canteen.

The QCA’s advice to examiners marking the papers stated that pupils should be “only assessed for writing, not for understanding of the play”.

The decision to retain the existing format of the Shakespeare test for next year means that it will be included in a judgment of whether the Government has met its target for English standards at 14.

Multiple A-level resits allowed

A-LEVEL students will be allowed to resit their exams as often as they like under proposals to be announced today.

Students are now allowed to retake exams just once, but the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is expected to recommend that the restriction be scrapped.

The changes were recommended by Mike Tomlinson, the former Chief Inspector of Schools, in his report into last year’s A-level fiasco, which was published last December.

A spokesperson for Edexcel, one of England’s three exam boards, welcomed the change. He noted, however, that there were not likely to be many students who would want to take the same exam three times.

Some commentators have expressed fears that the change in the regulations would further lower standards.

Damian Green, the Shadow Education Secretary, said that it would be seen as another example of dumbing-down.

“At a time when confidence in A-levels is very low, to say you will treat them like the driving test simply beggars belief,” the Conservative spokesman said.

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