The state higher secondary council has decided to publish books with model questions and answers to make students conversant with the varied types of multiple-choice questions they will face in the new semesterised plus-II course.
Around 50 per cent of the multiple-choice questions in theory papers in the first and third semesters will be “basic and simple”. Around 30 per cent of the questions will be a bit more complex and the remaining 20 per cent will be for the achievers, which means these questions will be comparatively tougher and will put to test the logical and analytical skills of the students, along with their knowledge of the subject.
The council secretary said that since the council did not follow this pattern earlier, there was a need to make stu dents acquainted with the new plus-II model.
“Else, students who have enrolled in Class XI could struggle to write the first-semester examinations due in September,” said Priyadarshini Mallick, secretary of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE).
A council official said that through the model questions and answers they want to give students an idea about the varied questions they will face and how these questions should be answered.
The books will also give students an idea about the short-answer type and descriptive questions they will have to answer in the second and fourth semesters.
One of the reasons behind introducing the segmented plus-II course from the 2024-25 academic year is to push up the number of high scorers — 90 per cent or above in
aggregate.
Only 1.23 per cent of the successful 6,79,784 examinees in the state higher secondary exams scored 90 per cent or above in aggregate in 2024. The results were declared on May 8.
Metro reported that the council president had expressed hope that the situation would improve after the introduction of the semester system.
Altogether, 8,331 candidates obtained the “O” grade (90 to 100 per cent in aggregate) this year.
“But the level of performance can peak if the students can comprehend the type of questions and pick up the skills to write the answers. This is where the model question-answers will play a crucial role,” said council president Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya.
“The model questions and answers are expected to be published this month,” Bhattacharya said.
He said the council would hold online counselling with subject teachers in districts so that they, too, could be conversant with the semester system.
“The teaching pattern that would be followed in the odd semesters (first and third) has to be different from what is to be followed in the even semesters (second and fourth). We have specified contact hours for each semester. If the teachers can impart lessons properly the students’ performance will improve,” the council president added.
The first and third semesters of the new HS course will require at least 100 hours of classroom teaching. The second and fourth semesters will have 80 hours of classroom teaching.
The council in a notification on Wednesday said that they would organise an offline district-wise sensitisation programme with the heads of the institutions to discuss the salient features of the semester system and the evaluation process.
