The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have published timetables for Class X and XII board examinations early. This allows schools to finalise the pre-board examination dates, while students will be able to streamline their preparations.
“The timetable will help us to finalise the dates of the pre-board exams. This time the timetable has been announced about three weeks in advance, which will help us to plan the year-end events of the junior school,” said Gargi Banerjee, principal, Sri Sri Academy, affiliated to CISCE.
In some schools, pre-board dates are kept tentative and finalised once the board timetable is announced.
The ICSE (Class X) exam will start on February 17 and end on March 30. The ISC (Class XII) exams will begin on February 17 and end on April 6.
The CBSE Class X and XII exams will begin on February 17. While the Class X exams will end on March 10, the Class XII exams will end on April 9.
“At the end of the academic year, we have junior school events. With the timetable in hand, we will be able to schedule school events with ease,” said Banerjee.
The exam timetable helps students to plan their preparations more effectively, according to schools.
“Once the timetable is published, many students make their individual routine. For schools, teachers can plan when to start revisions and schedule special classes,” said Rodney Borneo, principal, St Augustine’s Day School, Shyamnagar. (ICSE-ISC school)
Students can use the gap between examinations once they have the timetable, said Madhumita Sengupta, principal, BDM International, affiliated to CBSE.
“The gaps between exams are often uneven. If students are aware of them, they will be able to prioritise their subject preparation,” said Sengupta.
For The Newtown School, also a CBSE school, teachers have already started planning out “the right strategies” for the board classes.
“Teachers now know how to time the revision and the doubt-clearing sessions in the next couple of months. We give question banks and model answers to students to help them in their preparation,” said Satabdi Bhattacharjee, principal, The Newtown School.
For students, too, it is the time to streamline the preparation. “Along with hard work, it’s also about being smart and adhering to the timeline,” said Bhattacharjee.