বাংলায় পড়ুন
The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has announced that starting from the academic year 2025–26, students in the eleventh and twelfth grades will sit for semester exams. This decision was previously hinted at by the council.
It has been revealed that the WBCHSE has devised rules for semester exams that combine elements of traditional board exams with a competitive edge, just like CBSE and ISC boards. The aim is to ensure that students in the state are not left behind in national-level competitive exams.
Chiranjib Bhattacharya, the president of WBCHSE, emphasised the importance of CBSE and ISC boards' decisions, along with Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), in national education policy. Consequently, from the first semester of the eleventh grade onwards, each subject's exam will include MCQs with varying levels of difficulty.
Bhattacharya further explained that 50% of the questions will be of average difficulty, 30% will be slightly harder than average, and the remaining 20% will be reserved for challenging questions aimed at high-achieving students. Therefore, simply passing the exam will not suffice; students must demonstrate proficiency in their subjects to tackle the more challenging questions.
Additionally, the WBCHSE clarified that besides the compulsory first and second languages, students will have to choose three compulsory subjects and one optional subject. The total marks for the exam will be 500.
Moreover, if a student scores five percentage points below the passing mark in any one of the two language exams, they will be given the opportunity to pass by scoring higher in the other subjects. Furthermore, if a student fails in one compulsory subject and passes the optional subject, the failed compulsory subject will be considered optional, and vice versa. However, a student cannot avail of both options simultaneously. If a student fails in multiple subjects, they will have to take supplementary exams.
The time limit for the first semester exam will be one hour and fifteen minutes, while for the second semester exam, it will be two hours.
