Surprise inspection and other developments in CBSE exams
The COVID-19 pandemic has unsettled the flow of classes and exams of the previous and current academic year. In view of the ongoing repercussions of the pandemic, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was forced to cancel class 10, 12 board examinations. This decision has led to subsequent anxiety and confusion regarding the exam results and marking criteria.
It was announced earlier last month that the board has formulated a system of parameters that will be used to declare the board results of the 2020-21 batch. Other measures has also been put into place to ensure a transparent and smooth process of assessment. Here is a low-down on them.
Surprise checks on schools
The regional officers of CBSE will be visiting affiliated schools for the inspection of class 10, 12 board preparation as directed by CBSE. The new guidelines for the declaration of results call for schools to execute bulk assessment work based on internal assessment, practical, and project work.
The officials visiting the schools must also sign inspected documents, especially the ones on score rationalization. The controller of examination shall receive a complete report along with a soft copy of documents by 12 July.
Automated evaluation
The CBSE is going to arrange software to partly automate the class 12 exam evaluation and additionally, to aid schools in the tabulation of marks. The class 10 CBSE marks will also be taken automatically from the system by this software. The board is exploring the idea of using class 10 board data of other schools’ boards who generally migrate to CBSE after completing 10th standard exams. This method would ensure minimum human error.
Schools will be needed to give theory marks to students who have qualified the class 10 exams from other boards. According to the directions of the CBSE, the schools should keep the marks in a soft copy format.
Student details
The board has asked affiliated schools to submit seven key details of students through the automation software. Schools need to submit internal grades for each student based on internal assessment, practical, and project marks. Other required details include class 10 roll number, name of the school board, and year of passing for verification. Additionally, schools need to furnish “availability of historical performance of schools to be taken as reference for moderation.” Apart from this, the datasheets of class 11 and class 12 theory marks have to be uploaded on the dedicated portal of CBSE.
Conduction of physical exams
Physical examinations will be conducted in August if students are not happy with their marks and if COVID-19 cases reduce.
Evaluation criteria for classes 10 and 12
For class 10, the authorities will include 40% marks from pre-board exams, 30% from half-yearly exams or mid-term exams, 20% from internal assessment, and 10% from periodic unit tests.
For class 12, 40% of marks will be based on pre-board examinations or unit tests, while class 10 and 11 will amount to 30% of the marks.
The board will adopt a 30:30:40 ratio to evaluate class 12 marks based on the results of class 10, 11, and 12 exams. The result for class 12 will be announced by 31 July and 20 July for class 10.
Dual Board exams
Under the assessment scheme of the 2022 batch, the CBSE has declared that the session will be divided into two terms.
The first term exams will be conducted in November-December and the second term in March-April.
Exam pattern under new guidelines
CBSE term 1 will include Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) including case-based MCQs and MCQs based on reasoning. The exam duration will be for 90 minutes each and it will cover only 50% of the entire syllabus.
The second term exams will be based on the rationalized syllabus of the second term, that is, 50% of the entire syllabus. This examination will be held around March-April 2022 at CBSE examination centres.
At-home exams
The board may allow students of classes 10 and 12 to take their board exams from home in the academic year 2021-22 if the pandemic situation improves in the coming months.
Cancellation of exams is not a solution, says the board. Home-based online or offline exams will be put in place instead of cancelling the exams if the country faces the third wave of the virus in the ongoing academic session.