Students to get 3 hrs for ICSE maths paper from 2025
Times of India | 7 September 2024
Kolkata: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) on Friday announced that ICSE students will get three hours instead of two and a half hours for their 80-mark mathematics paper from 2025.
ICSE exams’ duration for all subjects, except for second language and mathematics, is two hours. Students get three hours for the second language and 2.5 hours for mathematics.All ISC exams are three hours long.
The CISCE notice reads: “Please note that the examination duration has been extended, there will be no changes to the number of questions or the format of the mathematics question paper.” CISCE chief executive & secretary Joseph Emmanuel told TOI, “Due to the increased weightage of competency-focused questions in the board examination, there is a need to bring in standardised timing across subjects to mitigate the stress on students as well as to ensure the quality of assessment.”
CISCE decided to give approximately 25% weightage to competency-based questions from next year. Principals said the additional 30 minutes for maths will be a great help to students.
Julien Day Group of Schools director of education Terence John said, “Increase in writing time is most acceptable and a welcome move. It will also give a psychological advantage for children who fear this subject.” Rammohan Mission School principal Sujoy Biswas said, “Many kids fear maths, so they will benefit from the extra time.” DPS Newtown principal Sonali Sen said they make students practise answering questions in 2.5 hours from class VIII to prepare for boards. “It’s good for them to get time for revision,” she said.