CBSE Board Exams 2020 pattern changed, made students friendly

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Board Exams 2020 pattern made ‘student-friendly’, though opinions differ.

CBSE Board Exams pattern 2020: Experts claim that the initiatives being taken by CBSE should not be limited to only class 9-12 but a change in teaching and learning process is needed right from the beginning. Many also argue that making things too simple or scoring-friendly might make it harder for students to accept challenges in future.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in a series of tweets has claimed that the new exam pattern for the Class X and XII Board Exams 2020 has brought ‘cheers among students’, however, teachers, guardians and academicians seem to have a different opinion. The changes in the exam consist of 20 marks internal assessment or practical for all subjects, more internal choices and introduction of objective type questions in board exams.

The CBSE claims that the new pattern “would make the assessment student-friendly, objective type questions will also mean a detailed study and a lesser number of descriptive questions reduced for class 10 and 12 boards will give more time to students to think and write more creative answers without stress during the exams.” It also added that having practical for all the subjects would also make “students understand, recall and apply knowledge instead of just cramming.”

Among other initiatives taken by CBSE, the students will have to take two levels of maths exam for class 10 from 2020 onwards. In addition to the existing level, an easier mathematics syllabus will be introduced under level 2. According to an official circular by the CBSE, the current mathematics subject will be called Mathematics (Standard) and the easier level will be called Mathematics (Basic). Students who fail or get a compartment in Standard Mathematics exam will have the option to appear for compartment exam in any of the two levels.

Also Read:

• CBSE Date Sheet 2020: Class 10 and 12 Practical Exams and Project Assessments
• CBSE News: CBSE may introduce two mathematics papers under Class 10
• CBSE introduces two level math papers for the first time to reduce exam stress 

While Delhi Parents Association welcomed the new exam pattern of CBSE since most of the competitive exams in India are MCQ (objective questions) based so, making CBSE Board Exams on a similar pattern should make students proficient. The new pattern will test the concepts of a student while in the descriptive mode the marks allotted depend a lot upon the teacher who is evaluating the answer sheet.

Some academicians are saying that the new exam pattern will make scoring easier. “This is a war of boards. State boards and central boards are introducing fancy names and schemes but how is it impacting the students is not checked. Boards are also giving marks leniently to students. All this combined will make it really hard for such students to accept failures or defeat,” said a CBSE school teacher on condition of anonymity.

One Mumbai-based counselor believes that all education reforms cannot be targeted from class 9 -12. “Improvement in teaching - learning pedagogy, conceptual learning for teachers, orientation for all stakeholders and regular steps are what we need. We cannot introduce reforms for four years of class 9, 10, 11 and 12. There is a need to have more planned and structured reforms across the schooling so that such skills are naturally imbedded in students rather than introducing conceptual learning one fine year. Such outcomes might be short lived.”