Ranchi, March 18: Question papers riddled with errors and incongruous distribution of marks have left more than 1.5 lakh intermediate examinees in the lurch.

The Class XII board exam, which began on February 22, ended yesterday with vociferous protests from 60,000 science and nearly a lakh arts students who claimed that paper setters had conveniently ignored Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) guidelines, not to mention bloomers in political science and physics questions.

For instance, the expert who set the political science paper (an optional subject for a majority of arts students) for the March 6 exam selected questions carrying 31 marks from Part A of the JAC syllabus instead of the prescribed 50.

Likewise, from Part B, questions carrying 75 marks were selected instead of 50. This was made possible by turning question No. 35 into a mix of topics from Part A and Part B. “The cardinal rule of paper-setting is to offer an alternative question from the same part,” said a political science teacher.

It was a double whammy for the examinees who also had to grapple with a bunch of ambiguous questions.

For example, the English version of question No. 8 (Part A) read: “When did the Constitution of India become ready (sic)?”. On the other hand, the Hindi version asked: “Bharat ka samvidhan kab lagoo hua? (When was the Constitution of India implemented?)”. Answers of the two questions are different. The Constitution was ready by November 26, 1949, but was implemented on January 26, 1950.

Again, the English version of question No. 29 that carried four marks read: “What are the functions of the Security Council of the United States (sic)?” “Since when did US have a security council?” quipped a teacher. The Hindi version of the same question said: “Rashtrasangh ke suraksha parishad ke kya karya hain? (What are the functions of the Security Council of the UN?)”.

Question No. 32 that carried six marks was a repeat of No. 29, albeit it just said: “What are the functions of the Security Council?”

The expert who set the physics paper (a compulsory subject) for February 25 was equally callous. Altogether, JAC rules on distribution of marks were ignored in seven out of total 10 units.

“Such irregularities are indeed unfortunate. Teachers guide students according to JAC guidelines. After the examinations, we found our students confused and demoralised. They are apprehensive about their performance in physics as well as other papers,” said a physics teacher.

He pointed out several errors. “Question No. 3 on permeability carried one mark. Generally, students are expected to remember the SI unit of permeability (H/m), but here they were asked to derive the dimension of permeability, which is time-consuming and too long a question for just one mark.”

Here, too, there were disparities in Hindi and English versions. The English version of Question No. 16 asked students to “show” while the Hindi version said “nikaliye”, which means derive. Again, question No. 18 refers to “flux”, but fails to specify electric or magnetic.

When confronted, JAC chairman Laxmi Singh said the questions had come in sealed envelopes. “But now that such irregularities have been brought to my notice, I will verify the same. If found true, action will be taken against people responsible.”