The matriculation exam of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) began on a happy note on Tuesday, as students were satisfied with the question paper in both shifts.

Coming out after appearing for their English paper, students were on cloud nine claiming that paper was according to their expectations. Shivani, a student of Rabindra Balika Vidyalaya, Rajendra Nagar, whose examination centre was at Bankipore Girls' School near Golghar, said: "The paper was easy. The grammar portion was simple. I knew the answers to most of the questions in the paper."

Echoing a similar view, Pooja, a student of the same institution, said: "As the paper was easy, I think I will score high."

Around 14.26 lakh students appeared in the examination in 1,217 centres across the state. In Patna, there are 70 examination centres, most of them located at important schools in the city.

Of 14.26 lakh students, the number of boys was around 7.66 lakh, while there are 6.59 lakh girls. Gaya has the highest number of students - around 70,573 appearing in the matriculation examination. Followed by Gaya is Saran with around 70,444 students. From Patna district, around 67,589 students are appearing in the examination.

Last year around 13.37 lakh students had appeared in the test, the number of boys was 7.29 lakh, while 6.08 lakh girls took the test.

The district administration had also deployed enough police personnel for conducting the examinations smoothly. Bihar School Examination Board chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh said: "For smooth conduct of examinations and to keep a check on unfair means, video-recording of all centres is being done. Strict action would be taken against students who indulge in unfair means."

Static and flying squad magistrates would also be deployed at various centres. The Bihar School Examination Board chairman said: "For convenience of students like the previous year, a control room has been set up. The control room phone number is 0612-2227587/2233423. The control room functions 24 hours and any student having any problem can register their complaints in control rooms."

The control room would also guide a student in locating examination centres and other details. To check unfair means, the examination is being conducted in two shifts - the first from 9.30am to 12.45 pm, while the second is from 2pm to 5.15pm. On Wednesday, students would appear for their mathematics paper. The examination will continue till March 23.