ICSE syllabus rejig: Schools fear dilution

CHENNAI: With the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) announcing that it will revise the Class 11 syllabus to bring uniformity between ISC and CBSE syllabi, schools have expressed concerns about a possible dilution that would make it less challenging.

CISCE recently said the two syllabi vary slightly in terms of chapter sequence and the board intends to make them standardised. CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said the board will rephrase the Class 11 question paper with competitive exams in mind as many students believe CBSE students are better equipped to handle entrance physics, chemistry, maths and biology exams.

JEE Advanced 2015: Board-wise performance of qualified candidates

The results for JEE Advanced 2015 were declared yesterday. The candidates who appeared for the exam can check their marks and rank at the official website.
The results summary was released online by the authorities on June 17. As per the statistics, total of 1,24,741 candidates registered for the exam, out of which 1,27,238 appeared for the exam. And only 26,456 candidates have managed to qualify JEE Advanced.
Boys outperformed girls in the exam, with 23,407 of the qualified candidates being male and just 3,049 female candidates.
The first rank was bagged by Satvat Jagwani of Satna, Madhya Pradesh, who scored a 469 on 504. Janak Agarwal came second, and Mukesh Pareekh came third.
The top rank under the OBC-PwD category was held by Chinamaya Kumar Sahoo, Turaka Bhavan topped the SC category and the first rank under ST category was secured by Harsh Meena.
The details of Class 12 board-wise performance of the qualified candidates are mentioned below:

• CBSE: 15,311
• Andhra Pradesh Board: 2,155
• Maharashtra Board: 1,787
• Rajasthan Board: 1,610
• CISCE: 1,047
• Telangana Board: 783
• Bihar Board: 473
• Madhya Pradesh Board: 438
• Uttar Pradesh Board: 397
• Gujarat Board: 350
• West Bengal Board: 266
• Karnataka Board: 217
• Kerala Board: 106

This year, the cut-off was 105 for General category, much lower than last year's 115 mark. OBC it was 70, for SC it was 50 and ST it was 44.
The IITs and ISM combined offer 10,006 seats. And the process of seat allotment is scheduled to begin on June 25, it will be conducted online through a common web portal. In order to get admission the candidates should be either be within the category-wise top 20 candidates in Class 12 Board examination or should have scored 75 percent (General Candidate) and 70 percent (SC/ST).

Change in the examination pattern for ICSE Class 10

Students who will appear for the ICSE Class 10 examination might be writing seven papers instead of 10. The Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) has proposed a single Science paper instead of three and one Social Studies paper that will combine History and Geography. Parents and school principals have argued that this change might damage the quality of the syllabi. They said that it would give away the edge that ICSE students have.
In comparison to CBSE and other state boards, the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Class 10 students write the maximum number of papers. If this proposal is approved then the students will have to take an integrated Science paper, Social Science paper which would combine History and Geography. Those subjects which are compulsory like English I and II papers, a second-language paper, a mathematics paper and an application subject would remain unchanged. These papers would comprise of 100 marks each.
Gerry Arathoon who is the Chief Executive Secretary of the council told Prepsure "This would take the burden off ICSE students."
"Only ICSE students have 10 subjects," said Arathoon.
He also said "We had received requests from different parts of the country to look into this."
In March 2015, more than 15,200 students appeared for the ICSE examination.