SSLC students elated over easy English I

This time around, a majority are confident of scoring good marks. While the English I was easy for most of them, the rest felt that it was moderate. 

Soundarya S, a student of Kodungaiyur Chennai High School said, “English and Mathematics are tough papers. All of us were tense and anxious ahead of the English paper. Mathematics, at least, we can mug up certain formulas, but English one has to understand and read. Now that the exam is over we are relieved.” 

Rural students, who were always concerned about the English paper, said they felt at ease as it was easier than anticipated this time. “We have prepared a question bank for all the subjects with the support of the district administration and circulated it among the pupils. As all the questions were exactly that we listed in the question bank, it became easy for students to write the paper and even we expect a few to score centum this year. Even the slow learners for whose benefit we complied 

the question bank would score not less than 60 per cent,” said C Velusamy, Head Master of Syed Murtuza Government Higher Secondary School, one among the team that set up the question bank. 

Robert Browning, English teacher of St Lasalle Higher Secondary School at Thoothukudi, said, “Questions were repetitive from the previous years’ paper and even the average students performed better. The pass percentage will definitely increase this year. Grammar was also manageable for rural students and overall the performance was good.” 

English teacher of Kodungaiyur Chennai High School, Mary Kanakaselvi said, “The students sounded positive after writing the exam. Even slow learners are sure of getting good marks. The questions, including the grammar portion, were from the text book. They did not get a single new question.” 

“This time the students had it easy and the questions too were familiar. They were able attend all the questions. It was an advantage that students had three days of holiday to revise and clarify. This year the exam paper was set in the standard procedure,” said Deputy Commissioner for Education Govinda Rao. 

However, Chief Superintendent of exams at St’ Paul’s School in Purasawalkam and Principal of VOC Vidyalaya, Perambur said, “Some of them performed very well, while some found the question paper to be moderate. The students were nervous before the exam because they lacked the skill. They were prepared mechanically by teachers for the blue print.”