CBSE students likely to get 6 grace marks for accountancy paper error

Nagpur: CBSE Std XII students who appeared for accountancy paper on Wednesday are likely to get six grace marks after an error was noticed in one of the questions.
This is the second reported error in CBSE paper in less than a week, with the earlier one being in English subject which too was worth six marks. Last year, the board was dogged with paper leak controversy. This year, already two errors have been notified by schools with Std XII exam alone.

A teacher confirmed that the error was spotted in question no. 15 and they have notified CBSE about it, as per the protocol. CBSE frowns upon schools communicating such issues to media and hence, the teacher did not wish to be identified. “We have filled up the feedback sheet and sent it to CBSE,” the teacher said.

Chartered accountant Vipul Vora, who also provides coaching for CBSE commerce students, said the issue cannot be just termed as a printing mistake of balance sheet. “It's a blunder. I just cannot limit myself to saying that it was a printing error. To explain it in very simple terms for even those from non-commerce background, what was printed in the question paper made it impossible for students to balance the accounts. If tonight your bank account is Rs2 lakh, and nothing is deposited, then tomorrow morning too the balance will be the same. But in today’s paper, the amount differed,” said Vora.

He added that this question should not have taken more than five minutes to solve. “But students wasted 10 to 15 minutes on this as they were unable to balance the amount,” said Vora.

CBSE follows a set policy for rectifying errors in question papers. Schools across the country send their feedback within 24 hours of the exam being over. If an error is cited, the board looks into it and takes corrective action. If the board agrees that there was indeed an error, then grace marks are awarded to students. It is expected that all students will get grace marks, not just those who attempted it.

Apart from the error in the paper, most of the students found the paper to be tough and lengthy. Khushboo Daga, a student of Bhavan’s, Civil Lines, said, “The paper was a bit tough as well as lengthy. The most difficult part was section B as there were debentures. The easiest part were question nos. 16 and 17.”

“The paper was very tough as I wasn’t able to tally the balance sheet. The easiest but the most time consuming part was section A,” said Bhavishya Karpoor from Delhi Public School (DPS), Kamptee.

Another student from BVM, Akshita Nahar, said, “The paper was very lengthy as I took most of the time to complete receipts and payments from section A. Theoretical question were also tough and time-consuming.”

Saiba Vij from DPS said, “The paper was very difficult, especially section A. The easiest parts were cost receipts.”

Rajat Varma, a student of BVM, found the paper to be time consuming. He said, “There were two sections and both of them were time-consuming. Depreciation was the toughest in section B. Payments and receipts were the easiest part.”