Now,only one science paper for SSC

Starting this academic year,Class X students of of the Maharashtra State Board Of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education

A student needs 30 marks to pass in maths (out of 120)

Starting this academic year,Class X students of of the Maharashtra State Board Of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) will have to appear only for one science paper instead of two. The papers,Science Paper One and Science Paper Two,will now be merged into one consolidated paper. However,the consolidated question paper will be divided into two parts which will have to be answered in two separate answer sheets.

Till now,a student needed to score 52 out of 150 to pass in science and mathematics. The 52 marks included score of both the internal exam and main exam. The distribution of marks is 30 for internals and 120 for the main paper of maths. Till now,if a student scored 52,he could pass. However,now he or she will have to score a minimum of 30 in the main paper to pass the exam. If his total marks is 52 but his marks in the main paper is less than 30,he will not pass, said Ujjwala Patil,chairperson of MSBSHSE.

Similarly,the distribution of marks for science will be 60 marks for the main exam,20 for the practicals and 20 for an objective test that will be conducted by the school. The merging of the science paper is being done mainly to cut down the time-span of the examinations. The students will also have only one science book from this year. Earlier,the children had to appear for the papers on two different days. Our main purpose of making this change is to cut down the total time-span of examinations, she said.

From the coming academic year,there will be only one invigilator during the practical exams. Till now,there used to be a teacher from the school as well as an external invigilator. However,over the years,we have realised that there is no need of an external invigilator and the one teacher from the school is enough, Patil said.

She also added that the syllabus of geometry and algebra have been upgraded according to the NCERT norms. The books with the new syllabus are already being made available in the markets, said Patil. The students who will fail in the March 2011 exams will be allowed to reappear for their exams as per the current syllabus in October 2011 and March 2012. However,students reappearing for the exams after that will have to follow new syllabus.

Academicians are happy with this change. Agnes E Paul,principal,SVS High School,Khadki,said,It is a welcome step. I think the main aim behind this step is to help students score more. The board wants more and more students to pass.

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