Just a couple of days back, CBSE Class 12th Mathematics examination paper made the students cry as it was very difficult as well as lengthy and now it was the turn of CBSE Class 12th Accounts examination paper to bring tears in the eyes of students. Most of the students from Patna complained that the paper was so “lengthy” that they were not able to finish it in the stipulated time of 3 hrs.
The Board has announced that it will take corrective measures while evaluating the “tough and lengthy” Maths paper but the similar type of situation occurred for the Class 12th Commerce students when they sat for their Accounts examination. After the exam, many students in Patna came out crying and accusing CBSE of “sabotaging our hard work” for getting good score so that they can get admission in esteemed colleges.
A student of Notre Dame Academy, Ritika Agrawal, was upset that she did not get a chance to revise her answer sheet. In her words, “Unlike Maths, we knew how to solve the questions. However, the calculations were so lengthy that many could not even touch questions worth 15-20 marks.”
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The faculties of the subject also admitted that the paper was lengthy; intelligent students may have finished the paper just in time without revision but it must have been very difficult for average students to finish the paper in 3 hrs.
This is what a Commerce faculty of Notre Dame, R K Poddar has to say, “In subjects like maths and accounts, it is a must to revise the paper for a missing ‘plus’ or ‘minus’ or calculation errors. Calculations like multiplying random odd-even three-digit figures were lengthy…Examinees ended up wasting time on calculations instead of using their intelligence to solve questions.”
Speaking on the issue of providing shorter examination papers in Delhi and southern India, Poddar questioned, “Is it some conspiracy against students in Bihar and Jharkhand?”
B P Roy, senior Commerce faculty of St Michael’s High School also said that some of his students were complaining of lengthy paper. This is what he told TOI, “However, most of my students managed to solve it in time.”
A good number of students expressed their outrage on online portals such as ‘www.complaintboard.in’. A student posted, “Board…are you playing with the 12 std students this year???”, while another asked, “Can the teacher herself complete the paper in three hours?”
When a senior officer of CBSE from Patna was asked about the different papers provided in different areas, he said that different areas are provided different papers so that if there is a problem in any area, the other regions remain unaffected and the paper goes smoothly. He stated, “Students can lodge complaints through their principals, but they need to understand that CBSE does raise the benchmark to filter extraordinary students from the most extraordinary.”
Another officer of CBI stated while talking to TOI that all centre superintendents are provided with the feedback forms so the queries and complaints can be filed and Board can look into the matter as per the procedure.