English exam goes off smoothly

The second day of the HSC exams went off as smoothly as the first, with nearly three lakh students appearing for the compulsory English paper in the city, reports Bhavya Dore.

The second day of the HSC exams went off as smoothly as the first, with nearly three lakh students appearing for the compulsory English paper in the city.

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“There were no problems registered today (Wednesday) either. Everything went off well,” said V.S. Mhatre, Mumbai division secretary of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.

At Marine Lines, students came out of their exam centres looking pleased.

“The paper was very straightforward and there were no errors in the question paper,” said KC College student Udit Shah, who wrote his exam at Bengali Girls’ High School at Marine Lines.

“It was very simple. This was nothing compared to our prelims where the papers were much tougher and I couldn’t even complete the exams,” said Rajni Rapol, a student of KC College at Churchgate.

Science students like Rapol had been concerned that since they had focused on studying their maths and science subjects during the year, they might encounter some difficulties in the English paper. But their worries turned out to be unfounded.

In Sion, Saloni Bhogale from SIES College said: “It was much easier than I had expected. The prelims really prepared us well.”

The three-hour English paper combines language and literature. “HSC papers have been getting simpler over the years. The board wants good results and the students are also better prepared,” said Rekha Shahani, principal, Kamla High School and Junior College.

On Wednesday, the board’s helpline received around 70 calls, with callers seeking to clarify routine things like seating arrangements and their exam centres. The paper on Thursday is the optional Hindi language paper.