Chennai: The preparation for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet) and tougher questions have resulted in fewer centums in biology, chemistry and physics subjects in state board plus-2 exams this year.
According to sources, no centum was scored in biology subject this year. “Three one mark questions and one six marks question, two questions in 10 marks were twisted. Students have struggled to answer these questions resulted in nill centum in biology,” teachers said. Last year, 221 students scored full marks in biology.
Due to this, the number of high scorers also has come down drastically compared to last year as only 231 students have scored over 1,180 out of 1,200 marks whereas last year 1,172 scored above 1,180. “This year our school has got one centum in physics, six in chemistry and no student scored full marks in biology,” said P. Swaminathan, secretary, SRV schools in Namakkal and Tiruchi.
Last year, students secured 33 centum in one school in three subjects - physics (5), Chemistry (20) and Biology (8).
“Neet preparation is one of the reasons for poor performance in biology. All three toppers from our schools are from computer science group. Students performed very poorly in biology and the average mark in the subject has also come down,” he said.
He also welcomed the move of the Directorate of Government Examinations to make it tougher to score full marks. “After scoring 90 per cent, the students need to struggle for each mark and it's a good move,” he said. Meanwhile, the number of centums in maths has increased as over 60 students scored full marks in SRV schools in Namakkal and Tiruchi.
Career consultant Jayaprakash A.Gandhi expressed surprise over not releasing the subject wise centum details. “Maybe the number of students secured full marks
has come down. The statistics show that almost 60 per cent of the students scored less than 800 marks out of 1,200 in plus 2, which is very alarming,” he said.
This impact will be there in engineering and paramedical admissions. "The cut-off for engineering courses will definitely come down by 5 to 8 marks for admission in private engineering colleges," he said.
He said Neet preparation could be one of the major factors for fewer centums in biology. “Over one lakh students from the state have appeared for Neet. Most of them are top scoring students,”he added.
One of the district officials who was in charge of an evaluation camp said, “There are a very few centums reported in our camp this year and I do not see any full marks in physics or biology subjects,” he said.
M. Ponmudi, president, The Tamil Nadu Higher Secondary Headmasters' Association, said, “Though the number of centums has come down, generally, the results in government schools have improved.” Usually, the directorate of government examinations used to give subject wise centum details. But, the DGE has not released those details this year. D. Vasundradevi, director of government examinations said many students were not able to score full marks.
When asked about over 60 per cent students scoring less than 800 marks, she said, “There is a need for improvement.” Sources said the directorate will stop releasing the centum details hereafter. Last year, 187 students secured full marks in physics and 221 students got centums in biology. In chemistry, the number of centums was 1,123 and in maths, 3,656 students secured full marks.
Corporation schools record tad higher pass percentage
With 88.79 per cent students of Chennai corporation-run schools clearing the plus-2 examination, the civic body had maintained the last year's performance, though with mere 0.05 per cent increase.
The education department of Greater Chennai Corporation had registered 88.74 per cent in 2016-2017. Chennai Corporation fared relatively well in 2017-2018 examination as the state registered a dip in pass percentage by 1 per cent.
However, this year’s performance is the best ever delivered by Chennai Corporation schools in terms of pass percentage.
According to the Chennai Corporation data, of the total 5,788 students appeared for the exams held in March - April 2018, 5,139 students cleared the examination. Of the 32 Chennai Corporation Schools, three schools - Koyambedu Chennai Higher Secondary School, Subburayan Street Chennai Higher Secondary School and CIT Nagar Chennai Higher Secondary School have registered 100 per cent pass record. Only two schools recorded 100 per cent pass record the previous year.
A total of 1,782 boys of 2,199 and 3,357 girls of 3,589 cleared the exams.
Chennai Corporation schools recorded a dip in the number of centums and students scoring more than 1,000 marks. “As many as 69 students secured full marks (200 out of 200) in various subjects. Seventy four students scored more than 1,100 and 326 students have scored more than 1000 marks,” the Chennai Corporation said.
During 2016-2017, as many as 119 students had scored centums, while 136 students scored more than 1,100 marks. A whopping number of 524 students crossed 1,000 marks last year.
