Impossible Question in CIE Physics Exam: Is It Really Unsolvable?

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skyglow1
Hi, the students that are the year below my year level sat their external physics exam recently. Only problem was, there seems to be an impossible question in the paper:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/skyglow1/impossibleq.jpg

This is a scan from the paper. It seems like there's no way you can do part (c) of the question. This is from CIE examinations so I find it very hard to believe they could have made such a massive mistake.
 
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vanesch said:
Well, you can always say something like:

Current in lamp Y = 12V/ R_Y or so, no ?

It doesn't mean that you cannot do the last exercise.

That was what I was thinking too, but it says calculate so I'm inclined to think its a numerical answer instead of interms of R_Y. And at this level you wouldn't be expected to say something like "Let R_Y be the resistance of lamp Y, then I = 12/R_Y".
 
I agree. I didn't realize you meant this was a real exam today - I was about to look up the markscheme online. it will be interesting to see what it (and the examiners report) contains, when it eventually appears.