Mumbai: SSC students to get 'practise prelims' ahead of March finals

This year the entire SSC curriculum has changed, where students will get activity sheets instead of question papers in the final exams

Hoping to ease the minds of anxious SSC students this year, who will be the first batch under the new curriculum, Balbharati - the state bureau of textbooks - has organised a practise preliminary examination for students. These exams will be held between November 26 and December 3.

The purpose is to give schools an idea of what the SSC exam will be like as under the new curriculum, as question paper patterns, too, have changed. Under the new SSC curriculum, there will be activity sheets instead of question papers.

This examination will be held as per a timetable that has to be followed by all schools across the state. Balbharati will upload the question paper of each day's subject, which students can download. At the end of the exam, model answer papers will be published along with explanation videos to make it easier for students and teachers to understand.

There are no old question papers for students to practise with, which is a major part of preparation for SSC examinations for lakhs of students. Hence, Balbharati has decided to conduct these practise examinations.

"The objective is to clear any confusion or fear around the new pattern of examination among SSC students. With the new syllabus, the pattern of the question paper, too, has changed and is causing some stress among students. This practise exam will give students the confidence to appear for the finals starting in March. While the timetable of the first such practice examn is already out, the plan is to bring in more such examinations. After appearing for these papers, students can take further guidance from their teachers," said Sunil Magar, director, Balbharati.

School teachers have welcomed the move, but have pointed out that it is rather late in the day for Balbharati to be taking the step. Uday Nare, language teacher from Hansraj Morarji School in Andheri, said, "It is a good system that Balbharti has introduced as there was much confusion over the examination as this is the first year of the new curriculum. More so, students and teachers were until now depending on study material by private publishers to get an idea of the new pattern of the question paper. If Balbharti itself declares the pattern, it will be more authentic and will help students as well as teachers understand it better. But, November is too late for this. There are just a few months left for the final exam."

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