Day 1 of CBSE Class XII exam: English paper a breeze, say most

NEW DELHI: The CBSE Board exams for Class XII started on Monday on an encouraging note for students with an “easy and scoring” English paper. Most students said it was a balanced paper while many teachers believed it was one of the easiest papers in the past few years.
Last year, the comprehension part was lengthy, leaving several students struggling to finish the paper.

This year, the writing section had a slight tweak in the pattern with a few 4-mark questions being replaced by a 10-mark question, said Firoz Bakht Ahmed, English PGT at Modern School, Barakhamba Road. However, “most questions were focused and poised” and the students came out of the centre happy with their performance, he added.

According to Shweta Priya, PGT English at Evergreen Public School in Vasundhara Enclave, “The writing skill section is expected to have put to test the students on the spot-thinking ability and their awareness about their surroundings. Most questions were direct while few questions have been included to test the deeper understanding of the text, thereby bringing about a complete balance in the paper.”

Teachers believed that those who had prepared well should score well in the paper. “Overall, the paper was student-friendly and balanced and must have been a cakewalk for the students who have prepared the syllabus well,” said Tripura Mulasi, English teacher at Mount Abu Public School.

According to many students, too, the paper was a satisfactory and encouraging start. “It was simple, general and as expected. All questions were from the syllabus,” said Nishtha Dabas of Himalaya Public School.