A large number of Class IX students were surprised to see questions from Book II in their Biology paper on Monday. Due to unavailability of Book II up until about a month before the final exam, many of them did not prepare from it and thus could not attempt the whole paper.

An invigilator told that on finding questions from Book II, many students could not attempt all the questions.

He said that although each question from the book had an alternative optional question from Book 1, but candidates who did not study anything from Book 2 and prepared from selective chapters of Book 1 suffered a great deal.

As per the new pattern, section ‘A’ of the exam comprised four different papers with multiple choice questions (MCQs). Each of the four papers had code numbers A, B, C and D, which means every four student in a sequence had a different paper which they were required to complete within 30 minutes.

Following this, all the students were given the theory paper which comprised Section ‘B’ and Section ‘C’. Section ‘B’ required short answers, and candidates had to attempt seven questions from Zoology and as many questions from Botany. Section ‘C’ comprised descriptive answers, and candidates were required to attempt two questions each from Zoology and Botany.

In October 2008, the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) released a Performa that the final exam would carry questions from Book II and local newspapers also published similar news. However, some private schools went against the BSEK’s notification and did not teach Book II to their students. Even teachers in many coaching centres too did not touch Book II.