JOIN USA number of questions in the SSLC Science examination on Friday were described as “tricky” by students as well as teachers.
Sahana, a student who took the exam, said a few questions required “quite some thinking” and were not direct in nature. “Some of the questions were not direct at all. They were quite tricky but I could answer most of them. Most of these were application-based. For students with high IQ, answering them would not have been that difficult,” she said.
According to Rajesh Angadi, a science teacher from Koppal, the questions were difficult for rural students who were more used to direct questions. “Compared with last year, the paper was a bit difficult. In rural areas, students are unable to answer many application-type questions. The difficulty level this time was little higher ,” he said.
Angadi and five other teachers analysed the paper and were flummoxed by some of the questions. “The paper felt like the examiners wanted to show their intelligence rather than give students a chance to pass,” he said.
M A Khan, principal, KK English High School, confirmed that some of his students had complained about the paper being quite difficult.
“To be very frank, the paper was as per the blueprint given by the board. But questions totalling around 22 marks required higher-level thinking. Only if one understood the concept really well can they apply it and write the answer. An average student may be able to get a pass mark but not a high score,” he said.
As rumours flew thick and fast that Science paper was leaked, Yashoda Bopanna, director, Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, refuted them. “We got some WhatsApp forwards around 9 am. We tallied them with the original paper and they didn’t match,” she said.