CBSE: Preparing for change

In view of the pandemic situation, the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) has decided to have a special assessment scheme for Class 10 and 12 boards in the 2021-22 academic session. For the first time, Class 10 and 12 students will have board exams in two terms--one in November-December and another in March-April--and each term will cover 50 per cent of the syllabus. The scheme implements a rationalised syllabus to help learners meet learning objectives less stressfully. "In a way, it will democratise exams by helping economically weaker students and those living in far-flung areas to compete with students from the rest of the country. Recently, case-based, assertion-reason and multiple-choice questions have been incorporated, which places more emphasis on the understanding of core concepts," says Anand Prakash, co-founder and head of academics, Vedantu. New system, multiple choices Exams in two terms with no overlap in syllabuses and equal weightage of both terms will reduce the burden on students and give them multiple opportunities to improve their performance. Adds Prakash, "The interconnectivity of several concepts or chapters will be taken into account. Having MCQs (multiple choice questions) would require our students to have a more objective understanding of concepts. This would enhance the overall cognitive skills of the students." According to Silpi Sahoo, chairperson, SAI International Education Group, "The new assessment system is comprehensive and a competency-based assessment with a rationalised syllabus." The syllabus carved out for the CBSE board exams will enhance conceptual learning and the MCQs will be concept-based where students will need to have clarity over basic fundamental concepts. The right answer In another first, the responses will be recorded on OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets. "OMR is a method of acknowledging marks made by pen or pencil over a defined place on a paper. The data is read from a sheet with the help of an OMR reader," explains Sahoo. This technology is useful for applications in which large numbers of hand-filled forms need to be processed quickly and with greater accuracy. Responses on OMR sheets are entirely objective as opposed to subjective explanations of concepts, which has been the norm so far. Subjective answers are often graded qualitatively based on what kind of explanation an individual examiner might prefer. Says Prakash, "In the case of objective questions, as long as the answer is correct, the student will get full marks. It's kind of a binary method of grading." With this, there could be an increase in the average marks of students, considering that some students score less because of poor presentation and not poor conceptual knowledge. The new assessment system is apt in the current scenario and the advantage is that it can be conducted both online (using Google Forms) and offline (using OMR sheets), says Mathura K., principal, Orchids--The International School. "The advantage of OMR is that answer sheets can be corrected in a fraction of time without any errors assuming that the student does not commit any error while bubbling the numbers. The advantage of MCQ can be reaped by the rural students who are not exposed to OMR usage and where scanner facilities are not available," she says. Corroborates Prakash, "In the case of MCQs, the four options of a question are represented by four circles, out of which the student fills in one circle completely, whichever they think is the correct answer. The rest of the circles are untouched." This sheet is then scanned by a computer and it detects the coloured circle as the answer marked by the student. Marking is done depending on whether the student has coloured/filled in the correct circle. Will it work? Students who have been giving exams such as Olympiad and others will not face much of a challenge, says Sahoo. But 37 per cent of the students are from rural areas who have not been able to go to school during the pandemic or study online, so they could have problems understanding the OMR method. They will need diligent practice before they appear for term exams. OMR might be the best considering that time is precious and human errors can be avoided and no biased corrections can happen. Points out Mathura, "The disadvantage of MCQ-based exams is that the student has to be fully correct to get 1 mark for an answer. There are no ‘step marks’ which are an important factor in any descriptive paper. The advantage is the student can get an answer right just by luck as there is no negative marking anyway." The new system of assessment and method of writing exams comes with pros and cons. On the bright side, it will be more inclusive and students with poor presentation skills don’t need to be intimidated and will bring objectivity so that students won’t be judged with the length of the answer or mood of the examiner. Says Prakash, "It harmonises itself with competitive examinations as they happen purely in MCQ (with some numeric too in JEE) and faster delivery of results as students are already suffering from Covid-19 induced delays in results and admissions." On the flip side, it doesn't reward students for clarity of thought (required in writing subjective answers) and presentation skills. And students who are purely school exam-oriented will find it difficult to adapt to objective questions. "The descriptive answers could fetch some marks for those who are not sure of the answers but in the case of MCQs, there are definite answers. The chances for guess work are negligible and students who are not sure of answers could lose out on marks," explains Sahoo. Also, there will be less time for the second term; the exams have been divided into semesters and children will get less time to practice for subjective type questions. OMR sheets and MCQs could be the new norm going forward as there will be universalisation of the exam pattern, be it competitive or regular board exams. SOURCE:https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/cbse-preparing-for-change-1854609-2021-09-19