At 99.2%, Kolkata's top CBSE XII score ties with Higher Secondary (HS) but lags behind ISC

KOLKATA: In Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class XII results declared on Monday, the highest score from the city was 99.2%, the same score secured by the single topper at the state Higher Secondary (HS) examination announced last week. In ISC, 17 students had scored 99.2% or more. This places ISC students ahead of HS and CBSE.Also in CBSE Class XII, 16.2 lakh students had appeared for the exam across the country of whom 7.2% scored above 90%. In HS, 7.5 lakh students had appeared for the exam, of which 1.2% had scored above 90%. ISC did not release the data on students who had scored above 90% but in several leading schools affiliated to the council in Kolkata, around 20% of the students had scored above 90%. From Bengal, 40,399 students appeared for CBSE Class XII exam, of whom 88.4% cleared it. The pass percentage was higher than the all India average of 88%. It was also higher than Bhubaneswar region's pass percentage of 83.3%. Bengal comes under Bhubaneswar region.Though more boys appeared in the exam from Bengal (22,728 against 17,671 girls), 92.1% girls passed the exam against 85.5% boys. At this year's exam, around 40% of the questions required critical thinking. In the CBSE press note, the board said that a better pass percentage (0.6% more than last year) "shows that students were well prepared for competency-based question papers as this year 40% competency-based questions were asked in the examinations". Vanshika Kothari from Lakshmipat Singhania Academy scored 99.2% in humanities while Vedisha Goyal from Sushila Birla Girls' School scored 99% in commerce. Sagarika Sinha from DPS Ruby Park scored 98.8% in science. Principals said students who had practised competency-based questions scored better than those who focused on rote learning. Lakshmipat Singhania Academy director Meena Kak said, "In last few years, the question pattern has changed and students need to have clear concepts to do better." Altogether, 238 students from Lakshmipat Singhania Academy appeared for the exam, of whom 63 scored above 90%. DPS Ruby Park principal Joyoti Chaudhuri said, "Our teachers set competency-based questions, which helped students to develop stronger concepts, independent thinking, logical reasoning and problem-solving abilities." Altogether, 906 students appeared for the exams from the school and 353 students scored over 90%. South Point School principal Rupa Sanyal Bhattacharya said, "Our students performed really well as they practised these questions several times." Of 573 students who appeared for the exams from the school, 124 secured above 90%.In Shri Shikshayatan School, 243 students appeared for the exams and 117 scored above 90%.