The CBSE class 10 and 12 term 2 board exams are the first written exams of this year. The period 1 exams administered by CBSE were in the multiple-choice form where students only had to circle the appropriate option. For most students in the current class of grades 10 and 12, there were no exams in grade 9 or 11, respectively. Due to the pandemic last year, these students were promoted to board classes without exams. Now, almost two years later, these students appear for a written exam. Thanks to the online lessons, most children no longer have writing practice.
Students have difficulty writing subjective answers and also face time management issues, said Sarita Khokhar, XI-XII academic coordinator of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad.
“The students lack a clear expression in subjects such as English, History and Political Science. When writing both short and long answers, they do not meet the required word limit. In science subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology, students have difficulty answering reasoning, analysis, and case study questions. In math, many students skip essential steps. They do not practice enough self-knowledge in Accounts, Economics and Business, which prevents them from applying the concepts learned,” says Khokhar.
The problems are the same in schools across India, but the challenge is greater for low-income students. “Rural area, digital infrastructure and socio-economic factors have a huge impact on students’ study. For these students, we focused on identifying and bridging the learning gaps that may have formed during their stay at home,” said Anup Tiwari, PGT, Mathematics, and Academic Coordinator, Grade 12 VidyaGyan, Bulandshahr – a school dedicated to underprivileged students who come from families with an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh from rural Uttar Pradesh said that preparation for these children starts with bridging learning gaps.
For CBSE term -2, students face challenges in confidence level, presentation, time management, handwriting difficulties and increased stress, Tiwari said.
Schools opt for multiple test series
Striving for ‘good’ board results, schools now focus on time-bound writing practice through test series and multiple rounds of board exams. Talking boards, teachers believe, is not just about knowledge, but presenting the knowledge on paper within the given time.
Topic analysis to identify weak and strong areas of students, remedial classes are taught to strengthen weak areas of students, and two rounds of pre-boards are some of the measures adopted by Amity International, Gurugram.
“The writing speed for students has been reduced. The students are given short time-limited tests to help them build that speed, Dr. Anshu Arora, Principal, Amity International School, Sector 43, Gurugram.
“Since the CBSE Term 2 Board Exam will be subjective, our main focus is to orient students to hone their writing skills, speed, paper presentation, time management and most importantly, building confidence,” said Meenu Kanwar, principal of Amity International School, Mayur vihar.
Kanwar holds short concept based test series conducted and graded assignments, at least two pre-boards, mockboards, short tests to ensure writing practice for her students. Offline remedial lessons, thorough check of answer sheets to guide mistakes and upgrade scores. Regular interactions with students and parents through a mentor-mentees program to motivate and advise students, showing model answer sheets as a guide to presentation skills, are some of the solutions presented by her schools.
Stress management also a challenge
Managing stress and a tight schedule between boards and competitive exams is a challenge for many students, regardless of location. Shalini Nambiar, director of the Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad claims that her students are also under great pressure. “Students are no longer used to writing long exams and this will be a major challenge for them. More so, the JEE is too close to board exams, and managing the stress will be daunting for kids,” she said.
Like other schools, Vidyagyan also holds multiple pre-boards and writing sessions, but they also regularly organize meditation, exercise and yoga classes to increase their concentration level.
Many students struggle to get the right momentum because their confidence is still low. They experience difficulties in completing their thesis on time, working on long questions, case questions, and remembering formulas and other definitions. Application-oriented questions are another challenge in any subject. Continued practice will help overcome these problems, argue academics who also conduct stress classes and counseling sessions for children.
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