Reshma Ravishanker

Students between classes I and X in Karnataka’s state board schools will have four formative and one summative exam for the current academic year. This comes after experts called for a more reliable form of assessment in the absence of final exams.

The department of public instruction released a circular on the continuous and comprehensive evaluation pattern specific to the academic year 2021-22 in the wake of the Covid pandemic. The mid-term exam has been given a skip while a four formative and one final summative exam pattern will be adopted, a circular released on Wednesday reads.

The department has instructed schools to adopt the policy-“maximum enrollments and maximum learning” where students will be assessed throughout the year and experts view this a parameter for the department to fall back upon in case the final exams might not be conducted in the wake of the pandemic.

For classes I to VIII, the formative assessments will be conducted in September, October and December 2021 and January 2022. Each of these assessments will be conducted for 15 marks per subject. The student’s performance in classes, self-learning, activities and worksheet submissions would be among the deciding factors for this.

Towards the end of the academic year, a final exam will be conducted in April, 2022. For students between classes I and V, a 20 marks written paper, a 20 marks oral exam will be conducted as part of the summative assessment. Only for English language, students will take a 10 marks written and 20 marks oral exam. For students between classes VI and VIII, a 30 written and 10 marks oral exam will be conducted, adding up to a total score of 40. The total score (against 100) will be a consolidation of 60 marks from formative and 40 from summative exams for classes I to VIII   

In classes IX and X, a higher weightage has been given for summative assessments. Four formative exams, each of which will be for 50 marks, will be conducted in the months of September, October, December 2021 and January 2022. As part of the formative assessments, students will submit 2 activities of 15 marks each and take a written test of 20 marks, summing up to 50. The 200 marks scored  in the four formative exams will later be reduced to a 20.

Class IX and X students will write a summative final exam for a total of 80 marks. The total 100 marks will be derived out of a score secured by students on a total of 20 in formative and 80 in summative exams. 

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