BHUBANESWAR: In a major reform in the pattern of annual High School Certificate (HSC) examination, the Board of Secondary Education on Thursday announced to abolish the system of answering multiple choice questions on optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets from 2020.The students will have to answer 50-mark objective and 50-mark subjective type questions in the examination without the OMR sheet multiple choice questions, BSE President Jahan Ara Begum said.
“The system of answering 50 per cent objective and subjective questions will continue in the HSC examination, 2019. Answering multiple choice questions on OMR sheets and subjective questions in question-cum-answer booklets shall also continue, though with some reforms,” Begum said.As per the changes, the existing pattern of three set multiple choice questions will be replaced by four parallel set questions. As a result, there will be four distinct set of questions for students. The minimum pass mark will be 15 for both objective and subjective parts in each subject.
The multiple choice questions will test logical reasoning, analytical ability, decision making and problem solving ability of students and there will be no change for subjective part of the question.“However, the new system without OMR answer sheets will be introduced from the current academic session for Class IX students. They will have have to answer 50 per cent objective and subjective questions without the multiple choice questions. The objective part will not have alternative options.
The candidates will have to write the answer against each question,” the BSE President informed.
Beside enhancing the understanding and applicability power and aptitude to learn more, the reforms in pattern of HSC examination will enhance quality of education and also the reasoning and decision making ability of students, she added.