The ICSE and ISC exams in 2024 will see a “small increase” in the percentage of “higher order and critical thinking questions” and the share of such questions will progressively increase in subsequent years.
In a circular addressed to school principals on Tuesday, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) said: “...there shall be a small increase in percentage of higher order and critical thinking questions in the Year 2024 ICSE and ISC Examinations. This percentage will progressively increase in the subsequent years ahead.”
The council will soon provide schools “specimen question papers” in select subjects for the exam year 2024, the circular said.
Schools have been advised to integrate the new pattern of questions in formative and summative assessments to prepare students for the changes.
The circular said the council wants a “unity of learning” for all its affiliated schools. “With the ICSE and ISC examinations as the anchor CISCE intends to gradually prepare students, starting from middle school to adapt to the desired changes in the learning ecosystem.”
The aim is to expose teachers, students and parents to the expected changes in the learning approaches in the initial stages of the students’ academic journey, the circular said.
“This early exposure will also assist in the right expectations from schools, teachers, students and parents on the upcoming changes in the question papers that are expected to start from the academic cycle year 2023-2024,” it said.
The day the ICSE and ISC results were published in May, Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the council, had told Metro that more analytical and application-based questions would be introduced “in small doses”.
“We as a board do not want to shock the system. Analytical and application-based questions will gradually be increased in small doses so children slide into the new system,” Arathoon had said.
Last updated on 14 Jun 2023
