The CBSE class 10 and 12 term 2 board exams are the first written exams of this year. The term 1 exams conducted by CBSE were in the multiple-choice format in which students only had to encircle the right option. For most of the students in the current batch of classes 10 and 12, there were no exams in class 9 or class 11, respectively. Due to the pandemic last year, these students were promoted to board classes without exams. Now, its almost two years later that these students will be appearing for a written exam. Thanks to the online classes, most of the kids are out of writing practice.

Students are experiencing difficulty in writing subjective answers and also facing time management issues, said Sarita Khokhar, Academic Coordinator XI-XII at Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad.

“In subjects like English, History, and Political Science, students lack clear expression. While writing brief answers as well as long answers, they fail to meet the required word limit. In science subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Biology students find difficulty in answering reasoning, analysing, and case study-based questions. In mathematics, many students are skipping essential steps. They are not doing sufficient self-practice in Accounts, Economics and Business Studies due to which they are unable to apply the concepts taught,” said Khokhar.

The issues are the same in schools across India, however, the challenge is worse for students from low-income backgrounds. “Rural areas, digital infrastructure, and socio-economic factors have a huge impact on the studies of students. For these students, we have been focused on identifying and bridging the learning gaps that may have formed during their stay at home,” said Anup Tiwari, PGT, Mathematics, and Academic Coordinator, Grade 12 VidyaGyan, Bulandshahr — a school dedicated to underprivileged students who come from families with an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh from rural Uttar Pradesh informed that for these kids, preparation starts by bridging learning gaps.

For CBSE term -2 students are facing challenges in confidence level, presentation, time-management, handwriting issues, and increased stress, said Tiwari.

Schools Opt for Multiple Test Series

Aiming for ‘good’ board results, schools are now focusing on time-bound writing practice via test series and multiple rounds of board exams. Talking boards, believe teachers, is not just about knowledge but presenting the knowledge on paper within the given time.

Subject-wise analysis to identify weak and strong areas of students, remedial classes are conducted to strengthen weak areas of students, and two rounds of pre-boards are some of the measures adopted by Amity International, Gurugram.

“The writing speed for students has been reduced. Short time-bound tests are given to the students to help them build that speed, informed Dr Anshu Arora, Principal, Amity International School, Sector 43, Gurugram.

“Since the CBSE Term 2 Board Exam will be subjective our main focus is to orient students to hone their writing skills, speed, paper presentation, time management, and above all confidence building,” said Meenu Kanwar, Principal, Amity International School, Mayur vihar.

Kanwar is holding short concept-based test series conducted and graded assignments given, at least two pre-boards, mock boards, short tests to ensure writing practice for her students. Offline remedial classes, thorough checking of answer sheets to guide on mistakes and upgrade scores. Regular interactions with students and parents through mentor-mentees program to motivate and counsel students, showing model answer sheets to guide on presentation skills, are some of the solutions presented by her schools.

Stress Management a Challenge too

Managing stress and a tight schedule between boards and competitive exams is challenging for many students irrespective of location. Shalini Nambiar, Director Principal, Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad claims that her students too are under a lot of pressure. “Students are not in the habit of writing long exams anymore and this will be a big challenge for them. More so, the JEE is too close to the board exams, and managing the stress is going to be daunting for children,” she said.

Like other schools, Vidyagyaan is also holding multiple pre-boards and writing sessions but they are also arranging regular meditation, exercise, and yoga classes to increase their concentration level.

Many students are facing difficulty in getting proper momentum as their confidence levels are still low. They are facing difficulties in completing question their paper on time, working on lengthy questions, case-study questions, and memorizing formulas and other definitions. Applications-based questions are again a challenge in every subject. Continuous practice is going to help overcome these issues, claim academicians who are also holding stress buster classes and counseling sessions for kids.

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