Students of II pre-university commerce can heave a sigh of relief as some of the questions in the annual examination scheduled this March will follow the multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and match the following formats.

The Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) has decided to introduce one-mark questions in subjects such as economics, business studies, and accountancy where the NCERT syllabus was introduced for the first time for second PU students. Each question in this format will carry a mark; in total accounting for five to ten marks in the annual examination. Papers will have anywhere between five and ten such questions. The rest will require descriptive answers.

Department officials said that the move was introduced to increase the pass percentage and the average marks. The pass percentage for Karnataka’s Class XII students has been found to be lower than that of other States. “Introducing easy questions like this will help students who are on the borderline clear their papers,” an official said.

Students have welcomed the move for the same reason. Manjula S., a II PU student said, “We are glad that we will get these type of questions as it will improve our overall score. We will also get more time to write the other [descriptive] answers which are time consuming.”