In a significant overhaul of its examination scheme, the CBSE will conduct the Class 10 and 12 board exams in two parts from the current 2021-22 academic session, with the first term questions being objective while the second term exams will be subjective. There will be no overlapping of syllabus and the final marks will be given on the basis of performance in both these exams, which will carry equal weightage.
The board issued the detailed guidelines for the pandemic-hit academic session on Monday. However, this scheme, according to a senior CBSE official, will continue as the board’s new assessment system.
For the current session, the first term objective exam will be held in November-December 2021, while the second term exam with subjective questions will take place in March-April 2022.
In 2021-22, it will reduce the syllabus, hold board examinations twice during the year in different formats, and ensure continuous recording of internal assessment scores in order to have a variety of options to calculate a final score at the end of the year, according to a notification issued on Monday night.
This comes after widespread uncertainty during the 2020-21 academic year, when the second wave of COVID-19 caused the postponement and then cancellation of year-end board examinations, with CBSE finally asking schools to use a combination of Class 10,11 and 12 scores and internal marks to calculate the final results.
The term-end exams will be of 90-minutes duration. CBSE will set the question paper and send it to the schools along with the marking scheme. The exams will be conducted under the supervision of external center superintendents and observers appointed by CBSE. Marks of both term-I and II will be contributed in the final overall score of students. The term-I will be held in November-December while the term-II will be held in March-April.
The pattern of the exams has also changed. The CBSE term-I exams will have MCQs including case-based MCQs and assertion-reasoning type MCQs, however, paper-II will have questions on different formats. In case the situation is not conducive in March 2022, the schools will hold a two-hour exam in term-II.
Not Just the term-I and II exams, the internal assessment will be given more credit, and data collection will start from the beginning of the new academic year onwards. Schools will create a student profile for all assessments undertaken over the year.
The focus will increase on internal assessment and these exams will be handy in case the COVID-19 situation does not approve in the next year.
For classes 9 to 10, three periodic tests, student enrichment, portfolio, and practical work, speaking listening activities will be conducted. For classes 11 and 12 the internal assessment will include unit tests at end of every topic, exploratory activities, practicals, and projects.
