CHENNAI:P K Sumithra is not someone who frequents temples that often. However, with the XII Board exam results out on Thursday, she has been a regular visitor to temples for over a fortnight now. “There’s so much fear that I don’t have the words to describe it. I have been going to temples of late, as praying gives makes me think positive,” says Sumithra, who studied at a Corporation Higher Secondary School. Ask her what makes her tense and she says it’s the tough Mathematics paper. “I only hope that the examiner corrected my Maths paper leniently. I am not so worried about the other papers though. I have given my best, I suppose,” she says.
While Sumithra and many students were obviously anxious about the results to be announced on May 7, the parents and teachers were no exception.
Says N Mala, a parent, “There’s definitely a lot of anxiety prevailing. It’s not just about my daughter clearing the papers, but what’s important is that she comes out with flying colors.” Her daughter Bhavatharini N, who studied at a private school in Perungalathur, nevertheless, keeps her cool. “I have done my best and I am hoping for the best based on how I have performed. While I am nervous about a few papers like Physics and Chemistry, I only fear that the overall mark may go down thereby making it unable for me to get a good cut-off,” she says.
However, she quickly opines that the tough one-mark questions in the Physics paper might lower the chances of many students who were looking out for a centum in the subject, thereby lowering the cut-off marks as well.
Not all seem to share her opinion though. “The fact is that there were a few mistakes in papers like Physics, Chemistry and Maths. So, even though I have done well in these papers, I am heavily relying on grace marks for Maths paper where a ten-mark question was incorrect,” says Sharath Jayakumar, who studied at DAV Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
Satya Narayanan, who has been teaching Mathematics for over 18 years now, says adding that complaints about question paper needed to be taken into consideration but not be made a point of argument while the results are out. “I did receive complaints about an incorrect question in the Maths paper. But by far, the paper was the easiest and the question was not actually incorrect,” he explains. HE Wilkins, chairman, Doveton Group of Schools, says. “ The ball lies in the court of the examinee to prove his or worth.”