The Hindu

Bangalore, Mar 3: The 10th standard examinations of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian School Certificate Examination (ICSE) and 12th standard examinations of CBSE and Indian School Certificate (ISC) began on Monday. While ICSE (class 10) and ISC (class 12) students appeared for the English paper, CBSE class 10 and 12 students appeared for Introductory Information Technology and Chemistry papers.

Students of 12th standard (CBSE) said the chemistry paper was “good”, as they were given sufficient practise by the schools. Many students claimed that the examinations had begun on a happy note. They maintained that they would have been happy of the mathematics examination was held first.

It seems the HOTS (questions based on higher order thinking skills) issue has cooled down this year. Students said the level of difficulty of all the questions was same.

“Last year, I think the students were not given sufficient practise. So, they might have found the question paper tough. This year, our school has prepared us to tackle questions based on HOTS. We had two pre-Board exams besides many tests,” said Siddeshwar P., a student of Army Public School (APS).

His classmate, Nagadeepika K., said that it was good to begin the examinations with a core subject. “You are relieved of tension if the examinations start with core subjects. The paper was good and I have performed fairly well,” she said.

Manjula Raman, principal of APS, said that parents were worried more than the students. “They were relieved when they saw the happy faces of their children after the examinations,” she said.

Col. P.K. Sharma, principal of Rashtriya Military School, said that the chemistry paper was good since the students could attempt most questions without any difficulty. “No question was out of syllabus. Most questions were direct and emphasis appears to be on knowledge than on rote learning.”

Cadet Bikram Singha said that he had prepared well for the first paper. “The numerical part was easy and I think HOTS questions were not asked this year,” he said.

N. Nagaraju, Regional Director, CBSE, told The Hindu that 13,221 students appeared for 10th and 4,815 students appeared for 12th standard examinations in 84 centres in the State. Special arrangements had been made at the school-level for the 26 dyslexic and physically challenged candidates in the State.

Meanwhile, ISC and ICSE students were happy their examinations began with the English paper and claimed that it was easy.

Sr. Priscilla, principal, St. Charles High School, said, “The students came out of the examination hall beaming and that said it all. We are confident of our students scoring well in the subject.”

Indira Williams, principal, Baldwin Girls’ High School, said students seemed relaxed, though it was their first Board examinations.

Esther Jebakumar, English teacher at Bishop Cotton Girls’ School, said that they had given students enough time for revision. “Students think languages are low-scoring subjects, but I have given them lot of tips on how to score well in English,” she said.