CBSE New Assessment Scheme 2021-22 for Class 10, 12

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has officially released the much-awaited special assessment scheme for Class 10th and 12th board exams for the session 2021-2022. In an official notification, CBSE said,

“Academic session 2021-22 of class 10th & 12th to be divided into 2 terms with approx 50% syllabus in each term. Syllabus for Board examination 2021-22 will be rationalized similar to that of last academic session to be notified in July 2021”.

Notification: CBSE New Assessment Scheme 2021-22

The following are the important highlights of the CBSE New Special Assessment Scheme 2021-22:

• Academic session will be divided into two terms, each having a 50% (approximately) curriculum:
  • The Academic Session 2021-2022’s syllabus will be divided into two terms.
  • Each term’s curriculum will be roughly 50%.
  • The board is using a methodical approach to divide the curriculum into two halves, with Subject Experts looking at the interconnection of concepts and subjects.
  • The Board will take exams based on the bifurcated (half) syllabus at the end of each term.
• Academic Session’s curriculum will be simplified:
  • Similar to the previous academic session, the board will rationalize the course for the board examinations 2021-2022.
  • Currently, schools will follow the CBSE curriculum and syllabus (Link), which was issued on March 31, 2021.
  • Aside from that, the schools and the Board will hold examinations at the conclusion of each term using the bifurcated (half) syllabus.
• Internal assessments or project works/practicals to make them more credible:
  • The board also intends to improve the credibility and validity of internal assessments, practicals, and project work.
  • CBSE will issue additional rules and a moderation strategy to guarantee a fair distribution of marks.

Detail Explanation: Curriculum/Syllabus Bifurcation/Division as per CBSE’s New assessment Policy

The new CBSE Assessment Scheme 2021-2022 explains the contents of the curriculum transaction. 

• Schools will continue to educate in distance mode till authorization for in-person lessons is granted.
• For students in Class 9th and 10th, the internal evaluation will consist of three periodic assessments, student enrichment, portfolio, and practical work/speaking listening activities/project (for the entire year, regardless of Term I or II).
• End-of-topic or unit tests/exploratory activities/practicals/projects will be included in the internet assessment for Classes 10th and 11th.
• Schools must keep track of all student’s profiles. These profiles will include information on the student’s performance in all of the year’s assessments. Schools can save proof of student performance in digital form in this way.
• The CBSE will also give schools the ability to post internal assessment records on the internet.
• For the session 2021-22, CBSE will produce Guidelines for Internal Assessment for all topics, as well as a rationalized termwise split syllabus. In addition to the divided syllabus, the board will give additional resources such as for example assessments, question banks, teacher training, and so on, in order to deliver more trustworthy and valid internal assessments.

Examination Pattern as per CBSE’s New assessment Policy

• Exam dates for Term 1 – When will the CBSE Term 1 test be held?
  • At the end of the first term, the board will hold the Term 1 examination.
  • The test will take place between November 2021 and December 2021 on a flexible schedule.
  • To assist schools in rural sections of the country, the board will administer the exam over a four- to eight-week period.
  • Examination dates will be communicated later.

Exam Pattern for CBSE 1st Term

• The test will consist of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) of the objective kind. The paper will include case-based MCQs as well as assertion-reasoning MCQs.
• The CBSE will provide the school with the question paper as well as the marking scheme.
• The test will be overseen at the school by External Center Superintendents and Observers chosen by CBSE.
• Candidates must fill out OMR Sheets with their replies. After scanning the OMR sheets, schools can upload them to the CBSE website. Alternatively, after assessing the OMR Sheets, they might upload the applicants’ marks.
• The Examination Unit of the Board shall provide the final directive in this respect to schools.
• Candidates’ marks in the first term examination will be included in the students’ final total marks.

Exam Pattern for CBSE 2nd Term

• At the end of the second term, the board will hold the Term Il or Year-end examination.
• In the second term, questions will be based only on the rationalized Term II syllabus (roughly half of the overall syllabus).
• The test will be held in the months of March and April 2022 at a location determined by the board.
• The exam will take two hours to complete.
• There will be a variety of question types in the term Il or year-end exam (case-based/situation-based, open-ended-short answer/long answer type).

Frequently Asked Questions on CBSE’s New assessment Policy 2021-22

Question 1: What happens if the pandemic situation improves and pupils are able to attend schools or centers to take exams?

Answer: 

In this case, the board would hold Term I and Term II exams at schools/centres, with the theory, marks split evenly between the two tests.

Question 2: In the event that the pandemic necessitates the entire closure of schools between November and December 2021, yet Term I examinations are given at schools or centers, what should be done? How will the examination be conducted?

Answer:

Students will take the Term I MCQ-based test online and offline from home in this circumstance. In this instance, the weighting of this test for the final score would be lowered, but the weighting of Term I examinations for the final result would be raised.

Question 3: What will happen if a pandemic forces the closure of all schools between March and April 2022, yet Term I examinations are given at schools or centers?

Answer:

In this circumstance, the term 1 examination will be the most crucial. The Board will plan the final year based on the results of the students’ MCQ-based test and internal assessments in Term I.

Question 4: In the session 2021-22, what will be the evaluation method if the pandemic forces the entire closure of schools and candidates to take the Board-conducted Term I and Il examinations from home?

Answer:

In this circumstance, the CBSE would prepare the final result based on the candidate’s internal assessment/practical/project work and theory marks from Term-l and Il examinations done at home in Class X/XII, subject to moderation or other steps to assure the assessment’s validity and reliability.

Question 5: How many terms are there in the Special Assessment Scheme of CBSE?

Answer:

As per the Special Assessment Scheme released by CBSE, the syllabus of Class 10, 12 students is bifurcately divided into two parts – First is Term 1 And Second is Term 2. Each Term covers 50 % of the syllabus in a systematic way with no compromises on the interconnectivity of Syllabus’ topics, concepts valid from 2021 – 2022. All this is really helpful for school students which are located in various parts of our country. Also, those students residing in foreign countries will get benefitted through such a flexible rationalization of the syllabus in accordance with the circular number Acad-51/2021. 

Question 6: What will be the format of Term 1 and Term 2 Question Papers?

Answer:

The format of question papers coming in both the terms i.e. Term 1 and Term 2 is connective as well as effective. Talking about the format of Term 1, the 10th and 12th class students will find case-based & assertion reasoning-type multiple-choice questions which need to be solved in 90 minutes. On the contrary, the Term 2 question paper format isn’t MCQ-type whose stem questions and the choices corresponding to them take a lot of time to create. Rather, there will be questions of various types – situation-based, open-ended, short/long-answer type which needs to be solved in a duration of 2 hours.

Question 7: What is the reason behind releasing this Special Assessment Scheme?

Answer:

One of the main reasons why this Special Assessment Scheme is released by the Central Board of Secondary Education is to compensate for the educational loss faced by students of Class 10,12 due to the stressful and life-taking environment of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, there are mixed reactions of parents about reopening the schools in this pandemic era but with this Special Assessment Scheme, they feel right sending their students to schools or exam centres. Besides, such a decision related to conducting the Board Examination valid from 2021 – 2022 will bear fruitful results from academic and mental points of view.