Now, CBSE Std XII students can get answers rechecked

NEW DELHI: Ushering in one of the most radical exam reforms, the Central Board of Secondary Education will allow Class XII students currently appearing for the board exams to not only get a copy of their evaluated answersheets, but also seek re-evaluation instead of just a recount of the marks, sources told TOI. Students can also specify which questions they want to be re-evaluated on. The facility will be open to those who apply for it and will be completely online — from availing a copy of the answersheet to requesting for re-evaluation. According to CBSE sources, the exam committee has approved the move. However, as of now, it will be available only for English, Hindi, physics, chemistry, mathematics, political science and economics. There will also be a cap on the number of questions sought to be re-evaluated. After a Supreme Court ruling, CBSE had, last year, provided photocopies of answersheets to candidates who had requested for it. However, dissatisfied students had to be content with 'verification' of marks, which meant retotalling of marks given for each answer. The provision of verification of marks/grades and obtaining photocopy of the evaluated answersheets will also continue. But in place of photocopies, candidates who apply will get a digitized version of the marksheets. "In the first year we are starting with seven major subjects. The facility will be extended to other subjects from subsequent exams. The board is in the process of finalizing the mode of delivery of the digitized answersheets. In case relatively low numbers of students apply for the answersheets, these can be delivered via email. Otherwise they will be allowed for download from the board's website," said a senior official in exam committee. "This is a welcome initiative of the board and I applaud such a change in the CBSE evaluation pattern as even a mark or two makes a difference in college admission. I think it's a step in the right direction," said Anuradha Joshi, principal of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. CBSE sources said a student will be allowed to seek re-evaluation of only a specified number of answers. "A student is likely to have doubts in a certain number of answers and not on all answers evaluated. Therefore, we would be putting a limit on the number of questions for re-evaluation," the official said. The board will issue the detail modalities of the initiatives before the declaration of the results on the official website.