After Madhyamik, the Indian School Certificate (ISC).

Students went through another day of examination-related stress. And it was not because of any lack of preparation. Sets of laboratory apparatus, which did not match with one of the three questions that came in Wednesday’s physics practical paper, gave students — and the school authorities as well — several anxious moments.

Till the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, came up with a solution that let off a section of students with having to answer only two of the three questions.

Class XII students of around 200 schools in the city had their physics practical examination on Wednesday. Accordingly, the council instructed all the schools to make arrangements for three different sets of apparatus ready so that students could answer all the questions.

But, as it turned out on Wednesday, only two sets of apparatus tallied with the question paper. The third set arranged by all the schools was of no use for the third question.

The schools, having to deal with widespread panic in the examination halls, rang up the council’s city office.

Officials here then contacted their counterparts at the council’s headquarters in New Delhi, asking them what was to be done and the reasons for the discrepancy. It turned out that there was “some misunderstanding” when the council sent the instructions to the schools a few days ago.

“There was nothing wrong with the question paper as such,” a council official said. “The gap in communication with the schools was over the third set of apparatus they were to have ready for the exam,” he added.

After a round of confabulations over the phone, officials decided that the schools should be asked to arrange for apparatus that would match the third question. “But, if that was not possible, schools were asked to tell students that answering the two questions (for which the apparatus was there) would do,” coordinating convener of the council Mantu Rakshit said.