CHENNAI: CBSE schools in the city are using even NEET and JEE question papers to help Class X and XII students prepare for their first term exam, which will only have multiple choice questions. Under the new scheme, the term-1 will end with a 90-minute objective type exam and term-2 with a 120-minute subjective test. A candidate’s marks will be calculated on the basis of the performance in both terms.
Most of the schools have begun revision tests and based on their performance are teaching students ways to navigate the exam.
Harini, a Class XII student, said her school explained the core concepts in NCERT textbooks. “School gave us shortcuts and strategies to solve the questions in a short time,” she said.
Deepta, a Class XII commerce student, said, her school is giving a lot of materials for students to prepare for the exam. “Teachers are asking us to prepare for the exam based on NCERT textbooks and be clear on the concepts,” she said. The objective type questions were easier for theory subjects. For accountancy and maths, time management was an issue, she added.
Nithin, a Class X student, said time management is a challenge in the MCQ exam. “Students who are thorough with concepts can score high marks. This MCQ pattern will help students prepare for competitive exams,” he said.
R Sivasankari, a physics teacher in a city school, said to ace MCQ tests students need to have conceptual understanding of topics and should be aware of the application of concepts as well. “In a descriptive test, even the wrong answer with correct steps or a part of the answer will yield marks. But, in the MCQ test, it is either wrong or correct,” she said.
V Gowrilakshmi, principal of Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Anna Nagar, said, “It is a challenge for students. They should know how to eliminate wrong answers. We are concentrating on practice papers.”
SBOA School and Junior College in Anna Nagar prepared in-house a revision book by taking multiple choice questions chapterwise from NCERT textbooks.
“We are giving assignments based on MCQ pattern questions after completing every lesson. Our teachers are also asking students to refer to NEET and JEE question papers to get familiar with objective type question papers,” said its K Manoharan.
“Students need to be thorough with the concepts. We have made NEET and JEE question papers reference points to prepare for the multiple choice based questions,” said N Vijayan, senior principal, Zion and Alwin group of schools.
