A statement is given followed by two arguments I and II. Read the statement and the arguments carefully and select the appropriate answer from the given options.
Statement:
Students have complained that questions outside the prescribed syllabus were asked in the X standard board exams this year.
Arguments:
I. The pass percentage in the X standard board exams has declined by 8 percent this year.
II. The number of students scoring over 60 percent in the X standard board exams has shown an increase of 15 percent this year.

This argument supports the statement indirectly because if the pass percentage has dropped, it could be a result of students struggling with questions outside the syllabus. However, this is circumstantial evidence and does not definitively prove that out-of-syllabus questions caused the decline

This Argument is strong because it correlates a decline in pass percentage with possible difficulties caused by out-of-syllabus questions

​Argument II:

This argument contradicts the statement. If the number of students scoring above 60% increased, it suggests that many students performed well, which makes it less likely that out-of-syllabus questions caused widespread issues. This Argument is weak because it contradicts the claim made by the students​​

 Argument II weakens, while argument I strengthens the statement

Thus, correct answer is (b)

​