CBSE Exam Pattern 2021 - 2022

The Center Board for Secondary Education has announced important changes for class 10 and 12 board exams in the academic year 2021-2022. Due to the prevailing pandemic situation, there is a significant shift in the CBSE exam pattern and marking scheme. Also, due to most schools adapting the virtual study mode, CBSE has decided to rationalize the exam syllabus for both class 10 and 12 students. It has decided to conduct examinations in 2 terms with around 50% syllabus in each term. To know details of the CBSE exam pattern and assessment scheme, read the article.

The CBSE exam will be held in two terms, term-I and term-II. The term I exam will be held between November-December 2021 and the term II exam will be held in March-April 2022. The Term I and Term II CBSE exam pattern will be different. Marks obtained in both term-I and II along with internal assessment scores will contribute to the overall result of students. The board has laid more emphasis on the performance of the internal assessment. Schools have to create a student's portfolio based on the internal assessment performance. CBSE has also directed schools to upload marks of these assessments on its IT platform.

Term-I CBSE Exam Pattern 

The term I CBSE exam pattern will be objective type including case-based and assertion-reasoning type multiple choice questions (MCQs). The duration of term I exams will be 90 minutes and will be conducted in the school. CBSE will set the question paper and send it to the schools along with the marking scheme. The exams will be conducted under the supervision of external center superintendents and observers appointed by CBSE. 

Term-II CBSE Exam Pattern

The term II CBSE exam pattern will be descriptive with questions of different formats. The duration of the exam will be 2 hours and the centers will be assigned by the CBSE board. The syllabus of this exam will be fifty percent of the entire syllabus. In case the condition is not favorable in March 2022 for conducting the term II exam, the schools will hold a two-hour exam in term-II. Otherwise, if the term II exam is canceled, the final marks will be evaluated on the basis of performance in the term I exam and internal assessments.

If the pandemic situation imposes a closure of schools during both term I and term II exams, the marks will be evaluated on the basis of internal assessments. These conditions are only applicable in the current years or coming year if the condition does not become feasible for the CBSE Board Examination.

Internal Assessment

As per the new CBSE exam pattern, students have to give internal assessments throughout the year. Despite the term I and term II exams students will require to score well in the internal assessment during the entire academic year. The internal assessment will include periodic test/ unit test at the end of topic or units, practicals, exploratory activities and projects. Internal assessments will be broadly categorized in four sections.

There will be a unit test conducted at the end of each topic for Classes 11 and 12 and periodic tests for Classes 9 and 10. These tests will carry some marks out of the total marks assigned for internal assessment. CBSE has authorized schools to conduct assessments in distinct modes as per the subject. Multiple assessments can be assignments, oral tests, activities, etc. Schools authorities will also have to create a portfolio of the student’s performance during the academic year based on the performance in assessments. 

The portfolio will determine the progress, efforts, growth and accomplishments of the student. Some of the elements included in the portfolio assessment are students’ basic knowledge, completeness of work, quality of work done and fulfillment of guided work as per curriculum objectives. There will be subject enrichment activities to assess the performance of students based on the projects, practicals, and skills of a student. The subject improvement activities hold five marks and are specific to the subject.

CBSE will release proper guidelines for internal assessment for all subjects along with the rationalized syllabus for each session for the academic year 2021-22. The board will also provide additional resources like sample assessments, question banks, teacher training etc. for more reliable and valid internal assessments.