Virginia ? A testing company that incorrectly scored online versions of Virginia’s high school exit exam has offered $5,000 scholarships to five students who were blocked from graduating.

The five students had already failed the English portion of the Standards of Learning test and had retaken it over the summer.

In all, Pearson Educational Measurement told 60 Virginia students they had failed when they had actually passed. Students typically first take the exam in their junior year and are allowed to retake it. Five didn’t graduate because of the error.

Roanoke school officials alerted the company after discovering a student who had passed was listed as failing, said Charles B. Pyle, Virginia Department of Education spokesman.

In 2000, a Pearson scoring error caused 8,000 Minnesota students to flunk and kept 50 seniors from graduating. The company offered $7 million in a mass settlement.