CBSE May Abolish Class XI Exam

After doing away with examinations till Class X, the CBSE board is set to extend the concept to Class XI as well, making Class XII boards the first proper exams that students will face.

The CBSE board is keen to implement the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) system — which is in line with the right to education bill’s provision to introduce it in all schools — from the 2011-12 session and is awaiting the HRD ministry’s nod. A few days ago, the ministry had advised all schools to dump the archaic exam system.

In the CCE format, Class XI students must take four ‘formative’ tests, which will be intensive in nature and based on a few chapters in a particular subject, and two ‘summative’ tests that will cover half the lessons taught in class.

“We want to introduce a comprehensive assessment system till the candidates appear for their first and only board examination in class XII. The stress will be on internal assessment,” a CBSE official said.

The question paper for the ‘summatives’ will be set by the CBSE board while schools will take care of the ‘formatives’. This method, the board feels, will ensure both students and teachers cover the entire syllabus and questions are not set from only those chapters taught in class.

The CCE will follow a semester-like mechanism, with the entire syllabus divided into four parts. The ‘formatives’ and ‘summatives’ will only give partial weightage to the pen-and-paper test — the rest will be accounted for by project work, viva and class tests that help a teacher assess a students’ overall knowledge.

The idea is to break away from the practice of learning by rote that the traditional examination system seems to have evolved.

A board official said: “The CCE is a better method to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a student so that s/he can improve. Teachers also get feedback on what they taught in the classes. In the old system, there was no such scope because teachers could do little by the time students sat for the annual exam.”

CBSE also wants schools to organise a pre-board examination for Class XI students to prepare them for the big one. The emphasis will be on students’ ability to write precise answers, and on time.

“Such pre-board tests are needed to familiarise students with the pen-and-paper test in the class XII board examination,” the official said.
 
Courtesy: Times of India