CBSE test papers to turn ‘brainy’

Class X and XII students affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will face drastically different question papers this year. For one, 10 per cent of the paper will comprise very-short-answer questions.

For the first time, 20 per cent of the paper will be designed to assess High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), a concept ingrained in the National Curriculum Framework, 2005. These questions will be aimed at assessing above-average students.

The National Curriculum Framework, 2005, had recommended certain changes in the examination pattern to turn it into a more meaningful assessment of what a child has actually learnt, rather than a simple rote learning-based exercise.

“This time there will be a paradigm shift in typology and pattern of questions. It will require the students to interpret, critically think, analyse and synthesise before answering the questions,” said CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly, addressing a press conference in Delhi. “There may be a paragraph and the students may be asked to read it and answer certain questions based on it.”

Ganguly added that, following the introduction of HOTS questions, the board would need to take another look at evaluation of answer scripts. “We will need to develop a method of marking these questions as the answer cannot be copied from any textbook and will be based on a student’s knowledge,” he added.