Examinees appearing for IIT JEE were stumped on Sunday by sections of a question paper not matching the corresponding sections of the computer-readable answer sheet because of a printing mistake.

The first of the two IIT entrance papers carried 84 multiple-choice questions, divided into three sections of 28 questions each. The sections were in the order chemistry, mathematics and physics.

The computer-readable sheet where the answers are supposed to be marked, however, had the sections in the order chemistry, physics and mathematics.

For example, question No. 29 was a mathematics problem. But the space allotted to mark answer No. 29 was under the section physics.

“The invigilator consulted his seniors after we pointed out the problem. About 15 minutes later, we were asked to mark the answers according to the serial numbers of the questions. Since computers will check the scripts, I don’t know whether we will be marked correctly,” said Debkalpa Goswami, an examinee.

IIT officials said section heads were printed incorrectly causing the confusion.

“The computers will go by the serial number and not the section head,” said A. Samanta, chairman (JEE), IIT Kharagpur.