The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold the board exams for Class X and Class XII in two parts in 2021-22 in view of the pandemic affecting activities in schools.

According to the special scheme for 2021-22, the academic session will be divided into two terms, each covering about 50 per cent of the syllabus.

Subject experts will do this by looking into the interconnectivity of concepts and topics. There will be a board exam at the end of each term on the basis of the bifurcated syllabus.

“This is done to increase the probability of having board-conducted Classes X and XII examinations at the end of the academic session,” the circular said.

The first-term exam will be held by the CBSE between November and December 2021 within a window of four to eight weeks. The specific dates will be notified later.

The question papers will have multiple-choice questions on the 50 per cent syllabus and the duration will be 90 minutes. The question papers will be sent by the CBSE to the schools along with the marking scheme. External superintendents and observers appointed by the CBSE will supervise the process.

The answer sheets will be sent to the board’s portal and evaluated automatically. The marks will be uploaded by the school the same day.

The second-term exam will be held around March-April 2022. The papers will be of two-hour duration and carry questions in different formats such as case-based, situation-based, open-ended short answer or long answer.

However, if the situation is not conducive for a normal descriptive examination, a 90-minute exam based on multiple-choice questions similar to the first-term exam will be conducted at the end of the second term. Marks obtained in both exams will contribute to the overall score.

The venue of the exams will depend on the situation. If the students can go to the schools or the centres, the CBSE will conduct both the tests there.

If the schools remain closed completely during November-December 2021, the first-term test will be done online or offline from home. In such a case, the weightage given to this exam in the final scores will be reduced.

If the schools remain closed during March-April 2022 after the first-term exam has been held at the schools or the centres, the final results will be based on students’ performance in the first-term exam and internal assessments.

If the pandemic forces a complete closure of the schools and both the exams are taken from home, the results will be computed on the basis of the internal assessments or practicals or project work and theory marks obtained through the tests taken from home. In such a situation, the theory marks will be moderated to ensure the reliability of the assessment.

Educationist Usha Ram welcomed the decision and said it was the best possible option to ensure the students remained safe while being subjected to assessment.

“The division is there, anyway. The schools conduct half-yearly tests; now the board will conduct it. Like the college system, the students will have two semesters. It’s a welcome move. They have done this to ensure the safety of the students and announce the results without much difficulty,” Ram said.

The details of the bifurcated syllabuses and guidelines for internal assessment (IA) for all subjects will be notified this month. The schools will continue teaching in the distance mode till they are allowed to open by state authorities.

For Classes IX-X, the internal assessment will include three periodic tests, student enrichment, portfolio and practical work or speaking and listening activities or projects. For Classes XI-XII, the internal assessment will include unit tests or exploratory activities or practicals or projects.