The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Question paper format changed for higher secondary exams

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 10, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Question paper format changed for higher secondary exams

Special Correspondent

`Very small answer' questions to now carry three marks The five subjects in which the changes will be made are: physics, chemistry, biology, botany and zoology

CHENNAI: Faced with appeals from different quarters, especially rural students, the School Education Department has changed the question paper format for the March 2006 higher secondary public examinations, in five science subjects.

The number of multiple-choice questions that carry one mark each has been reduced. But the "very small answer" (VSAs) questions will now carry three marks. The blueprint that the Department placed on the government website (www.tn.gov.in) had earlier stated that the VSAs would carry two marks each.

But this would not affect the objectives and learning outcome the new syllabus (introduced for Class XII this year) sought to evaluate, officials involved in syllabus planning said. The five subjects in which the changes will be made are: physics, chemistry, biology, botany and zoology.

Officials noted that the syllabus and the blueprint of the question papers in the key science papers put on the Government's website had stated that there would be a large number of multiple choice questions (MCQs); five-seven per cent of the questions paper would be in the difficult category.

The MCQs have now come down to about 30 in each paper. Part B would have the same number of questions, but each would carry three marks so that the total mark would remain the same, a senior official noted.

After the blueprint was made available, feedback indicated that rural students had difficulties in coping with the question paper format. "This is the first year after the introduction of the new syllabus and blueprint and it is still a dynamic concept, flexible enough to accommodate changes depending on feedback," the official added.

But the changes will not alter the levels of knowledge, skills or abilities that the question paper seeks to evaluate among students.

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