CBSE:10% questions on critical thinking in Class X exams

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 9

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that the Class X 2020 exams will include 8 to 10 per cent questions on critical thinking, analysis and competency.

The board said all students should now ask their teachers concerned to make them understand the concepts and try to relate these to real-life situation. 

The sample question papers for the 2019-20 academic session for Class X subjects, including Hindi, English, social science and mathematics, contain a minimum of two questions on critical thinking and creativity.

According to the CBSE, these questions can be case-based or comprehension passage-based, focusing on high order skills. These questions will assess the students’ competence to analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively.

Reema Dewan, CBSE coordinator, Chandigarh, said, “There are certain subject-wise variations and I have conveyed this on city coordinator forum and to all city school principals. The CBSE regional officers are in constant touch with us. Students are being prepared as per the latest sample question papers.”

Dewan said, “The focus is not only on the curriculum given in April this year. There will be multiple choice questions, high order thinking questions, etc. Pre-board question papers are now being prepared in accordance with the new sample papers.”

“Children will need to comprehend and apply their knowledge in a creative and critical manner,” she said.

The board has very clearly specified that some modifications have been made during the process of preparation of sample question papers (SQP) in order to prepare the students for future challenges. It has asked all schools to take into consideration the modification in the SQP and not solely rely on the design given in the curriculum.

Less descriptive questions this year

Another change introduced by the board for 2020 examinations is that the number of subjective/descriptive questions have been reduced to enable the students to have enough time to think and write creatively.