The ISC (Class XII) will have 70 or 80-mark one-and-a-half hour papers and the ICSE (Class X) 40 or 50-mark one-hour papers except maths and a few other subjects, according to the specimen papers the council has published ahead of semester 1 exams in November.
The ICSE maths exam, of 40 marks, will be held for one-and-a-half hours.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), which conducts the exams, has not yet published the specimen papers of all subjects, several heads of schools said.
Earlier this month, the council had announced that there would be two semesters and the council would conduct an exam at the end of each semester.
The exam in November, to be held online, will be entirely MCQ-based, the council had said.
The ICSE and ISC specimen papers reveal that not all questions are of one mark — some are of two marks.
In ISC English literature, all questions are compulsory. There are 30 questions of one mark each on Tempest and 25 questions of one mark each on short stories and poetry.
In ISC maths, the 80 marks have been divided into sections.
Section A is compulsory with 23 questions. Of these, questions 1 to 20 are of two marks each, and 21 to 23 have four sub-parts of two marks each.
The examinees have to choose between sections B and C.
In ISC accounts, all questions are of two marks. The paper has sections A, B and C, of which A is compulsory. Students have to answer all questions from section B or C.
“In some questions, there are three sub-parts. So, if a student answers one question, he or she can answer three sub-parts and can score up to six marks,” said Anil Jha, senior ISC coordinator and accounts teacher in a Kolkata school.
For ISC, the council till Thursday evening published the specimen question papers for English language, English literature, Hindi, elective English, mathematics, geography, economics, accounts, psychology, chemistry and biology.
For ICSE, the council published the specimen papers for English language, English literature, French, German, Spanish, mathematics, physics, computer applications, commercial applications, economics, history and civics, economic applications, geography, commercial studies, chemistry, biology, fashion designing, mass media and communication, physical education and yoga.
Teachers across schools had been waiting for the specimen papers. The papers will help them set questions for the internal exams to prepare students for the MCQ pattern being introduced this year.
“The specimen papers will help teachers set questions for school exams and also practice papers for students who are new to this pattern,” said Sujoy Biswas, principal, Rammohan Mission High School.
According to the specimens in ISC, 15 minutes will be given to read the paper, in addition to 90 minutes.
In ICSE, the time allotted is inclusive of the reading time.
Some schools have their mid-term exams scheduled in September.
“We will have a meeting with subject coordinators on Friday to discuss whether we should test our students on 80 marks for 90 minutes or stick to 40 marks for one hour for the exam that is scheduled in the second week of September,” said John Stephen, acting principal of La Martiniere for Boys.
“The usual duration of the writing time has been reduced to half. In ISC, the three-hour paper has been reduced to 90 minutes,” said a principal.