As class X students in CBSE schools prepare for their ‘term-ending’ examinations in March, they are privileged with the choice of either taking the board examination, or writing an exam conducted by the school.
With the introduction of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme, now students can choose to revise half the syllabus for the March examination. They have already completed a system of evaluation for the other half earlier.
CCE requires students to go through evaluation processes periodically.
There are formative assessment (FA) tests, and end-of-term summative assessment procedures (SA). There are thus tests spread out across the academic calendar, offering students the choice of doing away with the annual board examination of the CBSE.
Students are happy with the new scheme of assessment. The burden of mammoth coursework, usually associated with class X board examinations, has lifted. “I have opted out of the board examination. I will now be studying only half the syllabus in all subjects. I’m happy with this decision to write the examination conducted by my school,” said Akhil Verma, a class X student at a prestigious CBSE school in the city.
Akhil’s classmate Poornima P said that with the optional board exam, stress levels have gone down drastically. “I’m relaxed about the whole thing, and quite prepared for the school exam,” she said.
No more bitter competition
The CBSE made class X board exams optional from 2011, as part of the CCE system, introduced for classes IX and X in 2009. Although there was apprehension among parents, the number of students who opted out of the board examination shows that students have backed CCE to the hilt.
The CBSE made class X board exams optional from 2011, as part of the CCE system, introduced for classes IX and X in 2009. Although there was apprehension among parents, the number of students who opted out of the board examination shows that students have backed CCE to the hilt.
In the very first year,about two-thirds of students have opted out of the board exam. CBSE sources said around 5 lakh students (of the 8.23 lakh students in class X in CBSE schools across the country) have opted to go with the school examination.
Under CCE, an academic year is divided into two terms. There are two types of assessment procedures — formative assessment (FA), spread out across the year, and summative assessment (SA), conducted at the end of each of the two terms of the academic year.
The students are offered grades rather than marks, dulling the intense competitiveness. “The competition is not so bitter now,” says Manjula Raman, principal, Army Public School, Bangalore.
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