A Physics 1 exam was cancelled while in progress yesterday because not enough copies of the test were prepared for all the students in the course.

Costas D. Papaliolios, professor of Physics, who wrote the exam, said yesterday, "Things got a little behind." He said the exam was not given to the course secretary for xeroxing "as early, perhaps, as was possible."

A student in the course, who preferred to remain unidentified, said he had heard the that exam had been submitted to the secretary at 9:30 a.m. yesterday, an hour-and-a-half before the scheduled class meeting.

Papaliolios, who is chief instructor in the course, said he was "very displeased with the way things turned out" and that the situation could have been avoided had he been given "sufficient help."

Science Center C, is usually filled to capacity during Physics I sessions and Papaliolios prepared three versions of the same multiple-choice test in an attempt to eliminate cheating.

Only 100 copies of one version of the test were ready when the class met at 11 a.m. No tests were available for over 200 of the students.

Papaliolios said that the test was not an hourly, but an optional exercise which the student could take if he passed a certain number of self-paced exams.

He said the purpose of yesterday's exam was "to prod the students into taking the self-paced exams." He also said that "alternative or equivalent exams" would be made available to the students "at their convenience."