New Delhi, March 18: A government-appointed panel has suggested that science and mathematics papers in school board exams distribute the marks equally among essay-type, short-answer-type and very-short-answer-type questions.

The recommendation comes at a time several state boards have been dealing mainly in multiple-choice questions (MCQs) for ease of evaluation.

But the panel, formed with members from several school boards to suggest a pan-India question paper format, wants MCQs limited to a minimum. It has argued that even the very-short-answer-type (or objective-type) questions should not be made up solely of MCQs.

One suggestion the panel has not favoured is that of open-text exams, during which examinees are allowed access to textbooks.

According to the panel, the boards should maintain a ratio of one essay-type question to two short-answer-type questions to four objective-type questions. Students should be given a wider choice of essay-type questions than is done now, two panel members told The Telegraph.

One of them cited an example: a mathematics paper of 100 marks containing six essay-type questions of six marks each, 12 short-answer-type questions of three marks each, four two-mark questions and 20 very-short-answer-type questions carrying one mark each.

He, however, clarified that each board would decide the actual distribution of the questions under the broad framework suggested by the panel. The idea, he said, is to ensure that every board sets the same proportion of difficult, easy and average questions.

Some boards such as Odisha's have been setting 50 MCQs, carrying half the total marks, in all the papers in their Class X exams to facilitate high scores.

The panel has suggested that objective-type questions should not carry more than a third of the total marks and should include questions requiring one-sentence answers and not just MCQs.

Another panel member said that many boards have been treating essay-type questions too as objective-type questions during evaluation. These boards ask the evaluators to award marks on the basis of every correct step attempted, irrespective of whether the final answer is correct. The panel has opposed the practice.

The panel has also advised that the full marks carried by each paper, including the practical component, be 100 across boards. Some boards such as Tamil Nadu's have a few 200-mark papers.

The recommendations come at a time the country's largest school board, the Central Board of Secondary Education, has been accused of setting an inordinately difficult and long mathematics paper for its Class XII students. The government has announced an inquiry.

Academic Birendra Nayak, who taught mathematics at Utkal University in Bhubaneswar, criticised the practice of earmarking 50 per cent of the full marks for MCQs.

"MCQs facilitate easy evaluation but are not good tools to assess learning outcomes. Long-type questions force the examinees to analyse, reason and express their understanding," Nayak said.

But Odisha board president Daksha Prasad Nanda said that an MCQ-heavy pattern led to better assessment.

"Earlier, the students studied a few select chapters seriously and ignored the rest. But the system of 50 per cent MCQs forces them to go through all the chapters," Nanda said.

He said that MCQ answers were machine-readable and helped the board announce the results in time. Nanda added that the remaining 50 per cent marks were distributed among five essay-type questions.

The human resource development ministry had set up the panel last October under E.P. Kharbhih, executive chairman of the Meghalaya board.