The physics first paper question paper of the Higher Secondary Certification (HSC) exams, held on Saturday, contained several numerical and linguistic mistakes. Frustrated examinees uploaded the question paper on the social media, and there was severe criticism from different quarters over the mistakes.

Students who appeared for the exam in the English version also said inaccurate translations of some terms in physics baffled them. They couldn’t understand what they needed to answer against such question.

Ratul Ahmed, a student of Cambrian College, said: “I can’t believe the board has allowed such mistakes to appear in the question paper.” Ratul uploaded the question paper on his Facebook page and categorically identified

the mistakes. In question number two, examinees were asked to calculate and analyse whether a fielder in a cricket field could take a catch. The question, however, didn’t define the position of the fielder, which left the scope for two possible answers.

“When we went to the invigilator for clarification, he didn't have a solution,” said Ratul.

In question number 5, examinees were asked to find out the amplitude of a pendulum clock. But it was not mentioned in how much time the clock lost a second, without which the answer is open to ambiguity. In question number 7, the word "coot" was used in an equation, which didn’t make any sense.

In question 8, examinees were asked to find out the "rate of independence" of a balloon filled with nitrogen gas. The proper term would be "degree of freedom".

“Major mistakes in four out of eight questions obviously created a lot of confusion in the exam hall. But the invigilators couldn’t help us with those,” said Ratul.

Talking to The Independent, Ziaul Haque, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, said they had noticed the mistakes in the question papers.

“It is very unfortunate. We have formed an inquiry committee. The person(s) responsible for the question paper will be asked about these,” he added.