CBSE Board Exam 2024: Focus on MCQs for Classes 10 and 12; Lesser weightage for short and long answer questions

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• Apr 6, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The CBSE has announced modifications to its assessment scheme for the CBSE...

Digital Desk: The CBSE has announced modifications to its assessment scheme for the CBSE board exams in 2024. The changes entail a greater emphasis on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and a lesser weight given to short- and long-answer questions.

These modifications are in line with the guidelines of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which stress creative and critical thinking abilities over rote learning.

However, these modifications may only apply to the 2023–24 academic year, as fresh revisions are scheduled to be implemented with the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF).

The board plans to establish competency-based focused education, with more competency-based questions testing the application of concepts in a real-life situation.

"The board is initiating changes in the examination and assessment practices for the academic session 2023-24 to align assessment to Competency Focused Education," said Joseph Emanuel, Director, CBSE (Academics), as per PTI.

Changes For CBSC Board Exams 2023 

In the CBSE Class 10 board exams, half of the questions (50%) will be competency-based, which may contain multiple-choice questions (MCQs), case-based questions, source-based integrated questions, or other formats.

In the prior academic session, these types of questions were weighted at 40%.

The goal of the questions for this grade level will be MCQs, which constitute 20% of the total weightage, whereas the proportion of weight for short- and long-answer questions has been lowered from 40% to 30%.

40% of the questions in the CBSE Class 12 board exams will be competency-focused and may comprise MCQs, case-based questions, source-based integrated questions, or alternative formats.

In the previous academic session, these questions were given a 30% weightage.

For this grade level, the objective questions will also be multiple-choice questions with a 20% weight. The weightage for short-and-long-answer questions has been decreased from 50% to 40%.