SSC: Practicals eat into revision time

Punya Nair is angry that her secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations study timetable has been thrown out of the window. With barely 12 days to go for her written examinations to begin, the 15-year-old student from Ghatkopar has been, instead, cramming for her internal assessments, which will be held this week.

Blame her stress on the civic body elections. Practicals and oral assessments for SSC students are usually conducted in the first week of February. But since most teachers were assigned poll duties, many schools will begin them on February 22.

“Generally, internal assessments get over in the first week of February itself, giving students sufficient time to focus on preparations for their written examinations. But this year, due to the civic body elections held on February 16, schools were forced to delay their oral and practical examinations. Students will have to go to school even in the last week before their examinations. A lot of time will, therefore, be wasted,” says Rajesh Pandya, a teacher for Fatima Devi English High School, Malad.

Students cannot afford to take the internal assessments lightly, as they account for around 40% of their final score.

Nair says she is finding it hard to juggle her time between studying for the internal and external examinations.

“At the start of the year, we were told that practicals and orals would be completed by February so that we get at least 15 days to focus entirely on the board examinations. I had even planned my timetable accordingly. Now, I cannot even concentrate on my studies, as I keep worrying about the practical examinations.”

Predicting that the science question paper will be very tough this time, teachers say students will have to fall back on their internal assessment marks to raise their overall percentage. Kalpana Adhiya, principal of MP Shah School, Vile Parle, says with the new science syllabus being on a par with that of the ICSE board, the question paper will be a tough nut to crack. “This year, students should brace themselves for a difficult science question paper. Multiple-choice questions and practicals are the students’, especially the weak ones, only hope of securing good marks. They should not take the internal assessments lightly and prepare well for them.”

But students complain that this leaves them with little time to revise for the main examinations.

“The coming Saturday will be last weekend before the board examinations. But, I will waste it worrying about my practicals and orals, instead of studying for the written papers. My school oral examinations are being held on February 25, which is a Saturday, which I would have otherwise spent revising for my first written examination,” says Kunal Chheda, another Class X student.