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

CBSE Seeks Feedback on External Public Examination

Take this survey by CBSE on your perceptions about an External public Examination. This survey is for Students, parents, principals and teachers. Some of the question asked for students are:

• Feel pressure to cover the syllabus early
• Feel that marks are the only way to assess my worth
• Feel that teachers are seriously involved in teaching
• Study seriously due to pressure of examination
• Feel that studying from textbooks helps in getting good marks
• Feel that getting marks is more important than learning
• Feel unhappy and depressed most of the times
• Suffer from a lack of appetite or indulge in overeating
• Not get time for reading books, magazines, news papers etc

You must take this survey. Go to the survey: http://cbserod.net.in/eq/ques1.asp

THE FEWER THE COMPETITORS, THE HARDER THEY TRY

Reacting to the proposal of scrapping the board examinations, a principal of a school from Delhi said, “This would decrease the competition between the students, and students will deteriorate academically and they would not brave the future competitions”. So, do competitions really help the students or reduce their capabilities?

Competition to a certain level is productive. Let say in a class of 30, the teacher asks the students to draw something beautiful. Most of the children, out of pure interest only will draw their best possible work. Instead, consider a situation where the teacher announces, that there would be a painting competition where students all over the India will be participating, and for so called motivation announces a laptop or a foreign tour as the prize. Half of those 30 will give up then and there. 12 among the rest will be pressurized by their parents to draw, redraw and come up with nothing less than a Van Gough.  Only a 10% of students will survive the pressure and try to give it a serious try (most of their parents might themselves be from the artist background). Parents will buy them every possible colour, every kind of brush and even engage some art teacher for their fry. And when the child gets frustrated they will say, “You get so much comfort and advantage, where is the result (same as like their boss scolds them in their office)”. With a huge pressure on his shoulders the kid goes to the huge auditorium to find all other children accompanied by their families, armed with best possible colours, crayons and brushes. Finally he settles down and his shaking hands, throbbing heart manages to draw the do or die art.

The physical result without anybodies shock will be the same. Only 10 out of the thousands will get their names published on the newspaper, everyone (who has nothing to do with that competition) would be appreciating, that finally 10 talents have been found. But who caresses the rest thousands who have so called ‘lost the battle’, whose talents have been murdered at the first go. To the child he has nobody but to scold him, “I have broken the hearts of my parents who gave me all they could”. The gloomy face of father and mother would be imprinted in his mind. And how could you think he would ever get ready to go to the battle again (what he does then- take drugs or commit suicide or become the part of leg puller society who grows tall only when other bends)?

Not to forget about the rest 10. They are the heroes; they become the role models for their peers, expectation from them soar. And once they fail, the entire society leaves no stone unturned to prove that this was a genius by fluke. Not only this, entire society kills his esteem and makes him to doubt himself. And this group constitutes the half of the student suicide cases (IIT, IIM and suicide??).

To investigate the matter two behavioural researchers, Stephen Garcia at the University of Michigan and Avishalom Tor at the University of Haifa in Israel did an experiment. They asked 74 university students to take a timed, easy general-knowledge quiz which they were asked to finish as quickly as possible without compromising accuracy. Each student completed the test alone, but half were told they were competing against ten other people and the other half that they were competing against 100. All were informed that those whose completion times were in the top 20% would receive $5. The results backed up the psychological hypothesis. Students who believed they were competing against only ten people finished in an average of 28.95 seconds. Those who believed they were competing against 100 averaged 33.15 seconds.  

Curious as to why mere belief that he was facing more competitors would alter an individual’s performance, the two researchers ran a second experiment. They asked students to imagine they were running a five kilometer race against 50 people and then against 500 (or, in half of the cases, the other way round). In both notional races the top 10% of competitors would get a $1,000 prize. The researchers told the students to rate, on a seven-point scale, how much faster than normal they would run in each notional race, with a one being slightly faster than normal and a seven being the fastest of their lives. The average value in the competition against 50 others was 5.43; in the competition against 500 it was 4.89—a result consistent with the other two parts of the study.

Everyone has a limit of productive stress, beyond which it becomes counterproductive. To say that scrapping some exam will decrease the feeling of competitiveness is nonsense, because the sense of competition has been inherently within the Animal Kingdom (Competition for food, for place, for mates).  Above all we want our kids to grow as a good human being, to develop his innate potential to the fullest. After all no one has become a great man out of compulsion, pressure or lambast. Everyone has his own interest and life gives every possible support to grow it the best, so why should we be the leg pullers. Ultimately everyone wants an obituary, “He was the happiest man to have lived”.

P.S: What’s the remedy? Read an article like this or watch Taare Zameen Par and blame yourself to have wasted precious time from your competitive schedule.


Shivraj Rath

AIEEE WITH SURPRISES

Courtesy: Times of India


The All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) only got tougher this year with increased total marks and an increased level of difficulty. Over 25,000 students in the city and 1.25 lakh candidates across the state registered for the examination that took place on Sunday. The exam is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education across the country.

Students also complained about a tougher chemistry section while the math and physics sections were comparatively easy. The complete change in the pattern of the paper also took the examinees by surprise.

Vedashree Takalkar, who appeared for the exam on Sunday, said, "There were too many surprise elements. The marking system has been changed and since there is negative marking, we had to be very careful in solving the problems. I solved only as much as I knew and did not take much risk."

For the first time, there were questions containing eight marks each. Also, the number of total questions was reduced to 90 from 120 questions last year. "Usually, the paper consists of questions upto three to four marks each, but this time, we were really stunned to see few questions which contained eight marks," Pawan Pithadiya, who is aiming at the 15 pre cent quota reserved at most engineering collages in the state, said.

The AIEEE ranks among the key national-level exams for admission to premier institutions like the National Institutes of Technology (NITs). Candidates with an AIEEE score are also eligible for admission through the 15 per cent AIEEE quota at state-level engineering institutions.

Pranav Deshpande, another student, said, "The math and physics sections were pretty good but the chemistry was little difficult to attempt. Also, I never expected a question weighing eight marks. I think, CBSE students will find the paper easier as it was mostly based on their curriculum."

On Sunday, students, who have opted for B.E and B.Tech courses appeared for Paper I, comprising the compulsory subjects physics, chemistry and mathematics and any one of the four optional subjects chemistry, biotechnology, computer Science and biology between 9.30 am and 12.30 am. Those who have applied for B.Arch and B.Planning took Paper II, comprising maths part I, aptitude part II and drawing Part III between 2 pm and 5 pm.

Parth Doshi, another candidate who attempted the exam at SP college, said, "It was definitely surprising to see a sea-change in the pattern of the question paper. I was initially thinking how to attempt and what to attempt. But, my strategy was no strategy', hence I just went on with what I knew. I did not take much risk, keeping in mind the negative marking."

Experts expect lower cut-offs this year 

The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is getting tougher and according to experts, it is going the Indian Institute of technology (IIT) way. Held across 47 centres in the city with over 25,000 candidates registering for the exam, it took everybody by surprise with a total change in pattern.

Kedar Takalkar, who conducts coaching classes for AIEEE, said, "It was relatively a difficult paper and the paper pattern was similar to that of the IIT entrance exams. From 315 total marks last year, the questions totalled to 432 marks this year. Hence, the level of difficulty was also increased."

Distribution of marks was also way different from earlier years. This year, a total of 30 questions in each subject physics, chemistry and mathematics were asked. Out of these, 24 questions were of four marks each and six questions eight marks each. One-fourth negative marking was also one of the elements in the paper.

According to Pitam Singh, head of special examination, Central Board of Secondary education (CBSE), "We decided to reduce the total number of questions this year and fixed it to 90. Out of these, 80 per cent of questions were not extraordinary and needed only normal skills to solve them. The rest 20 per cent were of conceptual type and these questions will really test a candidate's talent. These will prove crucial while selecting the candidates."

A good score in AIEEE can admit a candidate into B.E, B.Tech, B.Arch and also the 20 National Institute of Technology, besides deemed universities and nine central and state government-funded institutions. In the city alone, around 40 engineering colleges accept AIEEE score for admissions, while most engineering colleges in the state fill up 15 per cent of their total intake capacity through the AIEEE.

Akash Chaudhry, who runs a coaching institute for AIEEE in the city, said, "The questions asked in mathematics were lengthy as well as conceptual. The level of questions can be compared with questions asked in mathematics section of IIT-JEE. This, in a way, is an indication that the paper or level of AIEEE is inching towards higher level of complexity, since the amount of time remains same but the number of questions asked have reduced."

It is also estimated that the cut-offs will be marginally lower this year. "If the cut-off was 160 to get into one of the engineering colleges in the state, this time around, the cut-off could be around 130 as a result of the changed pattern in the question paper," Takalkar observed.

The results are likely to be declared on or before June 7 and the score cards will be dispatched to candidates from June 12 to 27, the AIEEE official website said.