Friday was celebration time for CBSE class X students in the city and across the state. Barring just 122 students, all the 14,288 who took the annual examinations, were successful as the results were announced early in the morning.

Raksha M S, a student of Army Public School, was upbeat. She secured a high 99.7th percentile under the new system of grading and ranking. The percentile that represents the relative performance of each student who appeared for the examinations meant that Raksha fared better than 99.7 percent students. She intends to take up science stream for her class XI with Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology as the subjects.

The higher the percentile point, the higher the ranking. With a high 99.67th percentile, Kaivalya Molugu, a student of CMR National Public School, was beaming with joy. Her consistent, year-long study had finally paid off, she said.

Many students, parents and even teachers appeared confused about the grading and ranking system introduced by the CBSE. Mostly, it appeared out of inadequate understanding of method of determining the grading and rankings.

The mixed response to the system showed it would be a while before the new system is understood. Gowri, a student of National Public School, said she secured A1 grade in all subjects, giving her 10 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). She was at a loss to find out that her percentile 97.6th. “The whole system is very confusing. Even our teachers are not able to explain how the percentile is calculated.” She claimed that many of my classmates had secured A2 grade, but their percentiles were higher then her percentile.

Though the latter is not possible, the fact appeared that many students were yet to be clear about the new system. Sadhana, a parent, who also appeared to be not clear about the system, felt the grading pattern was unfair. Some students said the new system had taken away the excitement about checking their results.

With the pass percentage in Karnataka standing at 99.15 per cent, the state has come third in the Chennai region. Pondicherry topped the list in the region with 99.50 pass per cent and Kerala’s was 99.18 per cent.