Date:12/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/12/stories/2006031217460300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Physics paper leaves students apprehensive

City Bureau

It had several questions from outside the book bank Many questions were from outside the book bank

Teachers, officials feel shock factor, more than difficulty level, made students nervous

Officials say challenging papers have to be set to improve the quality

CHENNAI: Friday's arguably tricky Physics paper has left Plus Two students apprehensive about the remaining papers.

Though most felt it was a demanding paper, teachers and officials feel it was the shock factor more than the difficulty level, which made the students nervous. The State Board seldom tests students with questions from outside the textbook

Most of the problems were unexpected, particularly in the one-mark section, was the refrain of many students. Teachers had asked them to go through the model paper thoroughly but not many questions were based on that, they said.

G. Nitesha Roy, a student of DAV Matric, said many of her classmates came out of the examination hall crying, as they could not complete the paper. "We were very shocked to see the question paper. We were told that at least 25 one-mark questions would be from the question bank. Only six were from the bank."

"The paper was not how we expected it to be. Since it was challenging, we had to spend additional time on each question," said R. Ramya of SBOA Matriculation.

A Physics teacher agrees. "Getting a centum will be difficult. The ten-mark questions were quite comfortable. The five-mark section was okay. It was the one-mark section that scared students. Some questions were from outside the book bank," she said.

CET factor

Some wondered whether the papers were planned to be difficult, especially after the decision to scrap the TN Professional Courses Entrance Examination and grade aspirants to engineering or medicine only by their Plus Two marks. N. Vijayan, Physics textbook author, said there was a slight deviation from the "blue print" of the question paper.

"Six problems in the one-mark section needed intelligent application of concepts. Otherwise, the ten-mark and five-mark sections were pretty simple and direct."

Some students were psyched out primarily because a few problems were not from the practice questions given at the end of each lesson in the textbook. "Though there might not be as many centums as last year, the pass percentage will certainly be much higher. If students had chosen their ten-mark questions smartly, they can get 40 marks [10x4] easily," said Mr. Vijayan.

B. Raghuveeran, a school headmaster, said: "Though there are 210 official working days, only 171 actual learning-teaching days are available. Deleting the days the teachers or students are absent, the actual time frame available is insufficient to complete the vast syllabus. We feel schools should be allowed to take bridge courses during the summer between Std XI and XII." Officials say it is but natural to set challenging papers if the quality is to be improved, especially when the whole standard of the syllabus is being raised to the national level.