Changes in question paper pattern, grace marks formula help boost II PU results in Karnataka

The record pass percentage in the II PU results has been attributed to changes in the question paper pattern and the formula of providing grace marks to students.

The record pass percentage in the II PU results has been attributed to changes in the question paper pattern and the formula of providing grace marks to students.

The Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) changed the II PU question paper pattern this year and asked 20 more objective questions for one mark; among these, 12 questions were converted into Multiple Choice type Questions (MCQs). This method helped the students score well.

The 74.67% pass percentage this year is the highest in the history of II PU exams. Speaking at the press conference to announce the results, R. Ramachandran, Chairperson of the KSEAB, said, “This year, we changed the II PU question paper pattern and introduced Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ). It helped the students. In the coming years, we will bring some more measure to improve the result.”

Karnataka has the highest number of higher educational institutions, but State Board students’ entry into higher education is less. Every year, around 6 lakh students enrol for II PU exams. Earlier, the pass percentage did not cross an average of 61% and students and parents alleged that the question papers were tough.

At the same time, students from Central Board institutions was scoring more than 90%. The Central Board educational institutions give importance to objective type and MCQ type questions, which yielded better results. Some neighbouring States also adopted the same formula in their class XII examinations to improve the result.

Therefore, a few months ago, the Higher Education Minister held a meeting with the Minister for the Department of School Education and Literacy and other officials to discuss about how to improve the enrolment in higher educational institutions. Finally, they decided to change the II PU question paper and adopt more objective questions for one-mark along with MCQ.

Earlier, there were only 5 to 10 objective questions in each subject. But, this year, it increased to 20. Among these, 12 questions were converted into MCQ.