CISCE to revise current marking scheme

With the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) revising the current marking scheme, theory papers of six subjects, including computer science, will carry 70 marks while the remaining 30 marks will be allotted to practical tests in the CISCE’s Class XII board examinations from 2016 onwards.

Other five subjects, for which allocation of marks on theory and practical components has been reworked to make it in the ratio of 70 and 30, respectively, are fashion designing, physical education, Indian music (Hindustani), Indian music (Carnatic) and western music.

The council has revised the marking scheme for these six subjects as many of the students of its schools faced difficulty in getting enrolled in these subjects when they applied for admission to various universities this year.

Under the current marking scheme of the CISCE for the six subjects, half of the total 100 marks is allotted to the theory paper while the remaining half to the practical test.

“Many of the universities this year refused to accept the marking scheme for these subjects when our students applied for admission. Students faced difficulty in getting admission, especially in Delhi University, because of this,” CISCE Chief Executive and Secretary Gerry Arathoon told Deccan Herald.

Under the current marking of the council, the division of marks for theory and practical components of physics, chemistry and biology is already in the ratio of 70 and 30, he said.

“We have now revised our marking scheme for computer science and other five subjects also, to keep it with the requirement of the universities so that our students are not deprived of admission. It will become effective from 2016 onwards,” he added.

The Class X board examination of the CISCE schools is set to begin from February 29, 2016, while the Class XII board examination will start on February 8.

According to the dates announced by the council on November 27, Class X board examination will begin with English paper on February 29 and conclude with the examination for Applied Art (Art Paper IV).

The Class X board examination for mathematics will be held on March 14, physics (March 16), chemistry (March 18), biology (March 21), according to the schedules uploaded on the council’s website.

The class XII board examination will begin with Practical test in physics on February 8, 2016, and conclude with the theory paper of Geography on April 8, after examinations. The examinations for physics (theory) will be held on March 4, chemistry (theory) on March 11, mathematics on March 15 and biology (theory) on March 18.

For the 2016 board examinations, the council has kept ready a new system of recording of students’ scores in a digital format.

“The live link character recognition (LICR) solution that we have got developed for digital recording of marks of the students from the next year will not only save time and help us in declaring results early but also check the possibility of error in recording of data,” Arathoon said.

The examiner will evaluate the answer sheet of the students and use a digital pen to write total score at the top of the sheet.

“The picture of the score will automatically be captured and saved in our servers,” he added.

From 2018, the Class XII board examination will be held in line with the Central Board of Secondary Education.