Bihar School Examination Board chairman AKP Yadav. Telegraph picture

Patna, Sept. 7: Class X and XII students, pull up your socks. You will have to take the board examinations earlier this session.

The Bihar School Examination Board has decided to advance the Class X and XII exams to mid-February from March for early declaration of results.

It will give the state students a fair chance to compete in national-level entrance examinations and take admission in colleges of repute.

Earlier, several Bihar students were deprived of taking admission in prestigious institutions for late declaration of results.

Bihar School Examination Board chairman A.K.P. Yadav told The Telegraph: “This year, the Class X board and intermediate examinations will start between February 15 and 20. The month-long exercise will continue till mid-March.”

Yadav said the advancement of the board examinations is aimed at declaring the results earlier.

It will help the students compete in competitive examinations outside the state.

The students are too innocent to react to the advancement of the exams, though.

Rajyavardhan, a student of the Government High School at Gardanibagh area, said: “I go to school and study. Whenever the exam is conducted, I will have to take it. I don’t know if the advancement of the board exams will be a boon for us.”

The board expects around 10 lakh Class X students and around 6 lakh intermediate students to appear in the board examinations.

Besides advancing the exam, the board has decided to introduce more short questions in the Class X and XII board examinations. The decision to this effect was taken today after the conclusion of the two-day workshop organised by Bihar School Examination Board.

The members participating in the event have also decided to introduce conceptual short questions with alternatives in the exams.

Yadav said: “This year, the board had decided to give more impetus to knowledge-based-conceptual questions.”

Elaborating on the mathematics model sample paper for Class X, Yadav said: “The mathematics paper for Class X will give more importance to concept. Forty per cent of the questions will be based on it.”

Twenty per cent of the questions will check knowledge, 30 per cent application and 10 per cent skill.

The board will also introduce step-marking scheme from this session for all subjects. There will be a different question pattern for science as well.

There will be 60 marks for theory, 20 for practical and 20 on theoretical questions based on practical. Earlier, 85 marks were allotted to theory and 15 to practical.

From this year, Class X mathematics examination paper will comprise 25 per cent difficult questions, 50 per cent average questions and 25 per cent easy questions.

The move is aimed at helping the average students in qualifying in the board examinations.