It wasn’t the thought of having to face tough questions but the uncertainty over the conduct of the exam itself that had left Aishwarya Sinil, a Class 10 student at Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ernakulam, tensed.
So, when it eventually got under way on Thursday after being delayed by the State Assembly election, Aishwarya was just relieved despite being in mask and gloves and even before she had a look at her Sanskrit question paper. That the exam proved to be a cakewalk turned out to be the icing on the cake.
“The question paper was very similar to the one set for the model exam. The delay in the exam did cause some tension though it didn’t affect my preparations. Now I just hope that it will be completed as per the schedule,” she said.
Her batchmate Aishwarya Ajithkumar, however, wasn’t overly concerned about the delay in exams as it gave her added time for preparations. But the Malayalam exam on the first day left her far from overjoyed as it wasn’t all that easy.
“The descriptive questions were a bit tricky and I also faced a shortage of time,” she said while preparing for the Hindi exam scheduled for Friday.
The relief over the exams eventually getting under way was palpable among higher secondary students as well.
“The delay didn’t affect my preparations as one will have to face exams anyway. But it is always better for exams to go according to the schedule as that helps give a sense of normalcy,” said Figo Anton, a humanities student from St. Albert’s Higher Secondary School, on emerging after the sociology exam.
Fellow humanities student Aibel Stanley found the sociology exam neither too easy nor too tough. “I just hope that exams will not be disrupted by COVID and will end as planned on April 22,” he said.
Biju A.N, principal of SRV Higher Secondary School, felt that the pandemic seems to have little effect on students appearing for the exam as they seemed focussed in general.
“The exam was conducted strictly in compliance with the COVID-19 protocol complete with thermal scanner, sanitiser, gloves, and social distancing,” he said.
