Students have the last laugh

CHENNAI: Students may have faced some ‘tough’ papers in the first ever Class XI board exam and schools might have been anxious about the performance of children who were not ‘mentally prepared’ for a board exam, but when the results came out both were surprised and relieved.
A section of students had complained that the economics and chemistry papers were difficult.Also, most termed the maths exam toughest. But schools said that despite the initial confusion and tough papers, the results seemed positive.

Revathy Bonns, principal of MCC Matriculation School, said students and teachers were mentally unprepared for Class XI board exams as the announcement was made after the academic year had begun. The government order on Class XI board exams was issued last August.
“Although the order was issued, many were doubtful of whether the exam would be held and were confused. Several started preparing from December. Usually, when there is a public exam in the year, we finish the syllabus by November and start revisions. But this time, we could finish the syllabus only in February. We feared that the students might not be able to cope,” she said. However, all students in the school got more than 300 marks and many above 500, Bonns said.
Chitra Prasad, correspondent of NSN Matric HSS, Chitlapakkam, said the government might have been lenient in evaluation. “Many had come out crying from the exam hall after they wrote the maths exam and we feared if they would be able to pass,” she said.
Priyanka. J, a student of DAV, who secured 76.3%, said the score was above her expectations. “The maths paper was the toughest. The most difficult parts were the compulsory sums and the three-mark section. I felt we would fail in that paper. Even the chemistry paper was tough. But students from the science stream have all scored in the range of 350 and above,” she said.
Prasad said the public exam was a rather impulsive decision which left no time for teachers. “There were more conceptual questions. We are glad that the government is raising the standards but any change has to be brought in gradually and students be given time to prepare and adapt, be it change in syllabus or competitive exams,” she said.