CBSE Board Exam 2021-22: New syllabus, exam pattern, internal assessment

NEW DELHI : The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced a new exam pattern and reduced syllabus for Class 10 and Class 12.

The board said that exams will be held twice a year according to the reduced syllabus for each term. It has also suggested “alternative ways” to conduct the board examinations for the academic session 2021-22 in case the situation remains “unfeasible”.

CBSE also said that the syllabus reduction will be similar to the reduced syllabus of Class 10 CBSE 2020-21 and deleted syllabus of Class 12 CBSE 2020-21. The reduced syllabus will be uploaded on CBSE’s official website, cbse.nic.in , by this month.

CBSE reduced syllabus

CBSE said that the syllabus for the board examination 2021-22 will be rationalized similar to that of the last year. The new syllabus will be notified in July 2021. Last year, the CBSE had reduced syllabus by 30% .

CBSE board teaching

CBSE said that schools will continue teaching in distance mode for the coming academic year until the state and central authorities allow the respective schools to reopen.

Also Read | School Reopening Live Updates 2021: When will schools reopen in India?

CBSE exam schedule

The CBSE has divided the academic year of Classes 10 and 12 into two terms. Exams will be held by the board twice in the year at the end of each term.

• Term 1 exam will be conducted with a “flexible schedule” between November-December 2021.

• Term 2 exam will be conducted between March -April 2022 at the examination centres allotted by CBSE.

CBSE Latest News: Changes in exam pattern

Term 1

• The exam will be of 90 minutes and will cover the rationalized syllabus of one term only.

• The question paper will have multiple choice questions (MCQ) including case-based MCQs and MCQs on assertion-reasoning type.

• Exams will be conducted under the supervision of the external center superintendents and observers appointed by CBSE.

Term 2

• The exam will be of 2 hours and will have questions of different formats (case-based/ situation based, open ended- short answer/ long answer type) from the rationalized syllabus for term 2 only.

• In case the situation is not conducive for normal descriptive examination, a 90 minute MCQ based exam will be conducted.

CBSE News: Alternative assessment

The board has also announced assessment schemes for alternative scenarios related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In case the pandemic situation improves and students are able to come to schools, CBSE will conduct term I and term 2 examinations at schools/centres and the theory marks will be distributed equally between the two exams.

• If the pandemic worsens and there is a closure of all schools in November-December but term 2 exams can be conducted then term 1 exams will be held in online or offline mode as MCQ exam but more weightage will be given to term 2 exam

• If the pandemic worsens and there is a closure of all schools in March- April but term 1 exam can be conducted then results would be based on the term 1 exam which will be given more weightage.

• Incase both term 1 and term 2 exams have to be held from home, results will be on the basis of the internal assessment,practical, project work and theory marks of term 1 and 2 exams

CBSE Class 12: Internal assessment

• For Classes 9 and 10, internal assessment, which will be held throughout the year, will include three periodic tests, student enrichment, portfolio and practical work, speaking, listening activities and projects.

• For Classes 11 and 12, internal assessments will be held throughout the year and will include end of topic or unit tests, exploratory activities,practicals and projects.

The board said that it will also provide additional resources like sample assessments, question banks, teacher training among others for more reliable and valid internal assessments.

The board also said that efforts will be made to make internal assessment, practical and project work “more credible and valid”. Guidelines for internal assessment will be notified in July.

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