CBSE released the final evaluation criteria for Class 12 results on June 17th, 2021 after cancelling the board exams. We’ll look at three things in this blog. First, a complete breakdown of the CBSE Board’s official notification. Second, how the evaluation criteria will translate into marks, and third, what students may do meanwhile.
The first portion is the most objective and well-known, namely, the CBSE evaluation standards – divided into three parts. The board examination is worth 80 marks. The first component – Unit tests, half-yearly, and pre-board, account for 40% of 80 marks in the class 12 board exams. How do schools decide how much weight to give to these factors? Each school makes its own decision, which we’ll have a look at later in the article.
The second component comes from what you have scored in the corresponding subject in your 11th standard final examination. For example, the marks you scored in the 11th standard final examination economics paper would be worth a further 30% weightage of the 80 marks.
The last component is another 30% weightage that comes from your performance in the 10th standard board examination.
How will the CBSE Class 12 evaluation criteria translate into marks?
You may have had economics in 11th grade, psychology in 11th grade, and physics in 11th grade, but only science and social sciences in 10th grade. So, how will the CBSE Board translate it into marks – will it be the overall marks for all 500 students? No, the board will just take into consideration the best three subjects from your 10th grade marks, and the average of those three marks will account for the remaining 30% of your grade. As a result, the breakdown is 40-30-30.
Now, let’s translate this 40%-30%-30% into what it breaks down for 80. 30% of 80 is 24 from the best three marks in the 10th standard. Another 30% of 80 (which is 24) for the 11th standard corresponds to final examination marks. Lastly, 40% of 80, i.e, 32 marks – which the school will decide between a unit test, pre-board, and half-yearly.
Overall, the assessment has two components. Of the 100 marks – 80 marks come from these three parts – 24, 24, and 32. If we add the marks for the practical examinations conducted in class class 12 the total adds to 100. And of the 100, we will have 52 marks from what you have scored in class 12. Hence, roughly half the marks come from what students have done in the 12th standard. The remaining 48% comes from what they did in Class 10 & 11.
Now, how are the schools going to address the 32 marks component? This number is also practically pre-determined. It’s there in the school records and schools will have to setup an internal committee to whet these numbers before uploading it to the CBSE portal.
When are Class 12 results expected?
To compute the grades, the schools will have to set up a committee of five members. They will then decide and establish evaluation criteria and present them to the board along with the marks. By 31st July 2021, the CBSE Board will declare the class 12 results. It’s not just the CBSE board, the Honourable Supreme Court has asked every Board to release class 12 results by July 31st. So, by the end of July, all the students will have marks from whichever board they graduate from.
Additional evaluation standards by CBSE Board
The difficulty with the assessment criteria is that they may not accurately reflect the students’ true capabilities. When it comes to giving marks, for good reason, many schools are miserly. Especially at the pre-board and midway levels schools are conservative in awarding marks. For example, if a student took a board exam and was given a similar question, he/she would have received 20 points. However, at the school level, teachers are more likely to award 17 points. This is for the simple reason they do not want their students to get complacent. However, it’s not their fault as that’s what good teachers would do. They would want the students to write perfect answers to score full marks. The schools generally intend to put positive pressure on students to study and work toward improving their pre-board.
So, if the student got 80 out of 100 in pre-boards, he/she might have scored 95 if the board exams were conducted. Thus, the marks that students would have received for the 32-mark component from schools may be a scaled-down version of what they would have received if the board examination had been held. To eliminate this possibility, the CBSE board has given schools freedom by stating that the total marks must be per the past performances of the students in the actual board and that they must scale it up or down or modify it accordingly. Additionally, the board has also kept a criterion on the marks moderation. Schools can moderate the marks by only plus or minus 5 marks.
What if the students aren’t happy with their grades?
With any grading criteria, there are sure to be certain drawbacks. The pandemic scenario and the fact that we are yet to start rolling out vaccination for people under the age of 18, conducting examinations for students would have been unsafe. CBSE board has made sure to retain all of the check mechanisms in place. This will ensure that whatever criteria are used to evaluate students throughout 12th grade are the same as they would have been in the real board examination that had taken place.
Furthermore, the board is providing students with a second chance if they believe their grade was not up to par or was not what they expected. When the pandemic situation improves, students will have the option of taking the exam again. The only condition here is that if a student opts to write the examination when it is conducted by the CBSE, the marks earned in the examination will be used to determine their final grades and there will be no turning back.
What should CBSE Class 12 students do meanwhile?
Now that the evaluation criteria are out and the CBSE class 12 results are to be out only by 31st July, what should students do in the meantime? They should study for entrance examinations while simultaneously applying to colleges that admit students based on 12th board marks.
What entrance exams should PCM students take?
Class 12 students can also choose from a lot of entrance exams conducted by various universities. For example, some of the widely known entrance tests after 12th PCM such as JEE Mains and JEE Advanced. Out of which, the examination authorities have postponed JEE Mains session 3 and session 4.
What entrance exams are available for Arts and Commerce Students?
Many other examinations such as NEET for biology students, CLAT for Law students, Humanities and Sciences, TISS BAT, HSEE (IIT Madras Humanities programs), are also still to be conducted.
In fact, students from all streams (Science, math, arts, and commerce) should take entrance exams such as the IPMAT by IIM Indore, IPMAT by IIM Ranchi, and the JIPMAT, conducted by IIM Bodh Gaya for admission into their integrated MBA program.
So, students should begin preparing for these admission examinations as soon as possible. Many of these schools have historically relied only on entrance examination scores, this year they maybe even more so. In that case, if students score high in the entrance examination, they might mitigate whatever may have been lost out because of the new evaluation criteria. For students who did not do consistently well during 11th and 12th grade, and banked on doing well during the board examination, entrance exam criteria might be the best one to work towards.
Apart from this, many colleges have started their online application window where students can input data that are available to them. This includes 10th standard marks, name, age, address, parents’ details, application, and other such requirements. Once the board marks are published, you can add that information and submit your application to such colleges. Students should actively look for those colleges, not only in their hometowns but also in other cities and states.
When will college admissions begin this year?
We have no idea how things will turn out. The admission process this year will be begin from the 1st of August and colleges and universities have been mandated to complete it before September 30, 2021. The new academic year is tentatively scheduled to begin from October 1, 2021.
Another thing to keep in mind is that admission this year is going to be iterative. Say, you probably will get admission in mid-August or end-August when one of these colleges (say college X) comes up with their results and you might sign up for them, pay the fees and keep it as a safety net. You might even probably start attending college when it starts and would have applied to other courses (say in college Y) for which you would have written entrance tests.
Now, some of the students who joined college Y could transfer to a different college (say college Z) if they get an admission from college Z. In this situation, an opening will occur in college Y, and you could go from college X to college Y. You might even iterate more than once before you settle for that dream course.
So, this year, iterate on admissions. Keep an eye out for what’s going on in all institutions and courses. There are some wonderful courses available that students aren’t even aware of. Use the time before the class 12 results are due, hunt for those courses, and study for those admission exams. Make certain that you still have control over things regardless of the evaluation criterion.
Alternatively, you can watch this video.
Best Wishes to all the students!
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