In another two days, over 7,000 class XII CBSE students in the city will be set to appear for the final exam.
And, for many, this will be their first tryst with a board examination, as their batch had the option of choosing between the school-based and board-based examination in class X. A day after, on March 2, those who have opted to write the CBSE-based examination for class X will begin with the Mathematics paper.
Students and parents are aiming not just at making the cut, but are also tracking competitive university cut-offs of the previous year, and marks required to get into their desired group in class XI.
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Bhairavi Prasad, a class XII student, will be writing a board exam for the first time. “I segregate the simple and the difficult chapters and finish the tough ones first,” she said, adding that she was planning to apply for B.arch. The commerce student dismissed the idea that only science students face stiff competition.
“Today, every professional course has a high cut-off, including commerce and economics,” she said. The newly introduced value-based questions too, she said, would not be too much of a challenge.
School authorities say they go the extra mile to ensure students are not stressed. Bhavani Raghunandan, principal, Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, said before students broke for the study holidays, they were advised not to neglect food and play.
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“Our schools ground is open and many students come in the evening to play,” she said. She said those students who will be writing the board examination for the first time had prepared well with revisions.
“For class X students the teachers spaced out the CCE activities so that students are not burdened with projects in many subjects at the same time,” she said.
A. Kamala, vice-principal, L.M. Dadha Senior Secondary School, said students come even now with doubts and clarifications. “Many opt for the board-based exam in class X to get exposure in writing a board exam and to keep their options open if they want to switch boards in class XI,” she said.
One such student is Kalyan Aiyasami, a class X student who is taking the board exam because he wants to switch to State board. Saying he was confident about the exams after solving sample papers in his coaching centre and revision exams in school, he added that he was relieved that mathematics was the first paper as he found it the most challenging.
T. N. Swarnalatha, student counsellor, Sivaswami Kalalaya Senior Secondary School, said students of both class X and XII prepare for the examinations with many things in the back of their minds. While class X students have to decide whether they want to switch boards in class XI and set targets to get into their desired groups, class XII students have to score to match cut-offs and entrance examinations.
“We held a career guidance programme for class XII students to get their doubts clarified before November. For instance, many science group students were confused about JEE main and JEE advanced,” she said. “In many instances parents track cut-offs and push their children to get as close to it as possible,” she added.
Talking about the ways by which students can distress, V. Jayanthini, child psychiatrist, advised students to wake up early rather than stay up late and revise rather than learn something new closer to the exam. She also advised against discussing the paper extensively after the exam is over, adding that students must go to the examination with a fresh mind. And, visiting the school counsellor, she says, must be like visiting the dentist. “Students must not hesitate.”