NEW DELHI, May 08 -  Delhi University possibly goofed up again on Monday. Students of BA (honours) courses were prepared to attempt the contemporary English paper in the second semester but were instead given the question papers for another credit course called individual and society, according to a report of The Times of India.

They were shocked, anxious and angry even as college officials ran up and down to figure out the next step.

Students had to wait for up to two hours before the correct question paper could be delivered at all colleges. At some places, the exam began as late as 12 noon when it was scheduled to get over.

"It was our first exam on Monday. As soon as we got the paper, we realized that it was not our course. For half an hour after that, nobody seemed to know what was to be done. The exam finally started around 11am. We felt really let down as we had to waste so much time," said a BA (H) economics student at Shri Ram College of Commerce.

While students of BA (H) English study individual and society, those pursuing other BA (honours) programmes take contemporary English as their language credit course. Though earlier it carried only 50 marks, the total marks have been increased to 100 from this time.

In November last year, students writing a paper called 'reading Gandhi' were told midway through the exam that the paper would carry 75 marks instead of 50 and that they were to do one more question. Several students had left by then.

Vinita Chandra, English faculty, Ramjas College, said they could start the exam only around 12 noon on Monday. "The university faxed us a handwritten copy of the correct paper after which we had to make 400-500 photocopiesDifferent colleges got the correct paper at different times. Where was the secrecy?" she questioned. The DU exam authority blamed the English department for giving the same code to two papers. "The exam branch is only a facilitator and the paper is set and tagged by the department. They gave the same codes to both papers and the exam branch ended up picking the wrong one. We will order an inquiry," said a senior official.

He added that the paper was handwritten as it was lying in the storage. "At least the exam branch could salvage the situation by locating the paper and sending it to colleges within an hour and a half," said vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh.