College Street: Candidates who have written the admission test for the undergraduate political science course at Presidency University have complained that they have been stumped by the change in the question pattern.

The admission tests for the undergraduate courses at Presidency were held on Saturday.

Examinees alleged that the format stood in contrast to what had been announced in the information brochure.

The state JEE board, which has been conducting the admission tests on behalf of the university since 2015, said the change had been announced in a notice posted on its website www.wbjeeb.in on February 19.

Independents Consolidation (IC), a students' organisation on the campus, handed over a memorandum to the dean of students on Tuesday, alleging that the examinees had not been adequately informed that the question pattern would be different from what had been mentioned in the brochure.

The brochure, published in January by the JEE board, said 90 per cent of the questions would be on political science. The rest will test the examinees' skill in English.

The February 19 notice on the JEE board's website said 90 per cent of the questions would test the students' logical reasoning ability.

Pranay Kumar Shome, who wrote the test at a centre in Salt Lake, said he and several of his friends could hardly write the test because of the change in the question pattern.

"In the brochure it was clearly mentioned that the bulk of the test would be on political science. We had prepared accordingly," Shome said.

Told about the notice on the JEE board's website, he said: "In the application form for the test we had written our email addresses and mobile numbers. A little over 1,200 students had applied (for the political science test). They could have sent us a text message or an email alerting us about the change. Did they expect us to stay glued to the JEE board website in the run-up to the plus-II board exams?"

JEE board chairman Malayendu Saha said the change had been effected following an intimation from the university.

When asked why the candidates had not been alerted about the change through an email or a text message, Saha said: "We thought an update on the website was the best way to get the message across.... Next time we will be more alert so that students are informed about changes in as many ways as possible".

Presidency registrar Debajyoti Konar could not be contacted. He did not take calls or answer to text messages from Metro. A teacher in the political science department said they only came to know about the change after the test.