The second pre-university (PU) exam results for the 2020–21, which were announced on Tuesday, broke multiple records. Not only were all candidates passed, 2,239 students were awarded full scores — 600/600.
Last academic year, when the examination was conducted, not a single student bagged the full score. The maximum mark, 598/600, had been awarded to a student in the Commerce stream.
Of the 2,239 students, who got the full score this year, a majority of the candidates, 1,929, were from the Science stream, while 292 were from Commerce, and the remaining 18 were from the Arts stream. The results were announced by Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar.
Of the 6.6 lakh students who passed, 95,628 (14%) secured distinction, 53% were awarded first class, and as many as 1,47,055 (22%) students got second class. As many as 68,729 students were in the pass class category.
R. Snehal, Director of the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE), acknowledged that the high scores could be the result of the ‘grace marks’. As the examination was cancelled on account of the pandemic, all students have been promoted this year. They were graded based on their SSLC and first year pre-university marks, which were given 45% weightage each. Internal assessments accounted for the remaining 10%. In addition to this, students have been given 5% grace marks on their first PU scores.
The DPUE in a press release stated that students — both freshers and repeaters — who are not satisfied with their marks can appear for the examination that has been tentatively scheduled from August 19 to September 3. Mr. Kumar said that those who are not satisfied with their results can approach the officials and register for the examination by July 30.
Performance comparison
With all students being declared as pass, there was also a corresponding increase in the number of candidates who secured distinction, and first and second class, when compared with the 2019–20 academic year when only 4.17 lakh students wrote the examination. As a result, the number of students with distinction shot up by 39%, first class by 60%, second class by 89%, and third class by 40%.
However, the percentage of students who secured distinction this year has dropped when compared with the previous year where candidates were able to write the final examination. In the 2020 PU examination, 17% of the candidates secured a distinction, compared with 14% this year.
In keeping with past trends, the maximum number of distinction was obtained by students in the Science stream (67,175). Candidates in the Art stream bagged the least number distinction (5,974).
