Aligning with NEP 2020! These changes in CBSE exam format to develop students' creativity

In a bid to align the assesment and evaluation of students in line with National Education Policy -2020, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is making several changes in the exam format for Classes 11 and 12, giving more focus towards developing the creative, critical and systematic thinking capacities of students to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

From now on, Class 11 and 12 examinations will include more competency-based questions that assess the application of concepts in real-life situations.

"The board in accordance with National Education Policy, 2020 has taken multiple steps towards implementation of Competency Based Education in schools, ranging from aligning assessment to competencies, development of exemplar resources for teachers and students as well as continuous capacity building of the teachers etc," said Joseph Emanuel, Director (Academics), CBSE, to news agency PTI.

The board has increased the percentage of competency-focused questions while reducing the percentage of constructed response questions from 2024-25 academic year.

"Consequently, in the forthcoming session, the percentage of Competency Based Questions that assess application of concepts in real-life situations included in the question papers of the board has been altered," said Emanuel to PTI.

"The main emphasis of the board was to create an educational ecosystem that would move away from rote memorization and towards learning that is focused on developing the creative, critical and systems thinking capacities of students to meet the challenges of the 21st century," he added.

The percentage of MCQ, case-based questions, source-based integrated questions have been increased from 40 to 50 per cent. On the other hand, the percentage of short and long answers have been reduced from 40 to 30 percent.