KOCHI: Across the country, examination fever has the entire student community in its grip, with students of Classes XII and X of nearly all the boards engaged in last-minute preparations for the crucial tests. But as has been the case throughout, this year too the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has given students a fright. The students found the Class XII physics and accountancy papers quite difficult.
“Only students, who are bright or extraordinary, might have been able to crack the exam. Though based on the syllabus, the questions were very difficult to comprehend, especially for a 17-year-old,” said Suchitra A C, physics teacher of Greets Public School.
She said the average and above-average students could have never been able to answer the questions during the three-hour paper in the tense atmosphere of an examination hall. “Of course, if the students were asked the same questions in a different scenario, they might have solved it,” she said.
If students found the physics paper tough, with nearly all the questions at application level, those who appeared for accountancy laboured to complete the paper. “It was very lengthy,” said Priya Fazil, mother of a Class XII Commerce student. She said the short-answer questions took up the time usually given to questions which carry five or 10 marks . “Three hours were a very short time frame for an Accountancy paper,” she said.
Pointing out that the issue is the same across the nation, T P M Ibrahim Khan, president, Kerala CBSE Schools Management Association, said, “The association has sought a report from all the schools. Based on it, we will send a complaint to the board and ask them to make the valuation liberal.”
The Council of CBSE Schools Kerala too has taken up the issue with the board. Indira Rajan, secretary-general, National Council of CBSE Schools, said the council has already sent a letter to the board in this regard.
“We received a report on the question papers from schools following a thorough analysis by teachers. Based on it, we have asked the board to take action in students’ interest,” she said.
CBSE said the board has a practice of sending ‘Observation Schedules’ to all school heads to share their feedback on the question papers. “The feedback is examined by subject experts for its merits before finalising the marking scheme. The board will take similar action in all such cases,” the CBSE said in a release.