Students express exam relief

New Delhi: There were plenty of smiles on the first day of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 and 12 examinations yesterday.

A wave of relief washed over parents waiting outside exam centres as students with jubilant faces emerged and said three words: "It was easy!"

"I didn't expect the paper to be so easy," said an excited Nishant Chawla, a Class 12 student at Bhatnagar International School.

The Class 12 exams began with the chemistry paper while Class 10 exams began with ancillary papers such as Elementary Business and IT.

"The pattern of the Chemistry paper didn't change from last year's. I was checking last year's papers on the internet last night. This morning when I saw the question paper, I was pleasantly surprised. The pattern was very similar," Chawla said as his mother stood by smiling.

Tempo

"It's such a relief when your kids are satisfied with their papers. It's even more important that their first paper goes off well because it sets the tempo for the upcoming examinations," his mother said.

Sayada Shaniamehraz of the Hillgrove Public School, whose examination centre was at the Delhi Public School in the capital's R.K. Puram area, said she was relieved everything in the paper was within the syllabus.

"I don't want to quote my expectations but it was good," she said.

For Astha Chawla, a Class 10 student of the Bhatnagar International School, the examinations couldn't have started on a better note.

"I had my IT paper and it couldn't have been easier. The pattern had not changed since last year and we had ample amount of time to complete it. The time allotted was two and half hours but we all were done by one hour," she said.

This year, a total of 1.31 million students are appearing for the CBSE board exams - 765,095 from Class 10 and 548,815 from Class 12.

Class 10 students from 8,199 schools are sitting for the examinations in 2,624 centres. Similarly, Class 12 students from 5,171 schools are writing their papers in 2,394 centres, in India and abroad.

Last year, 705,152 candidates appeared for Class 10 exams while 502,688 students took the Class 12 exams. Chhattisgarh district authorities have arranged special workshops to keep exam phobia at bay.

Mahasamand District administration has conducted special workshops for students. The initiative's focal point is to help students to avoid stress.

Designated teachers counsel students on overcoming the psychological and academic pressures that often come with the central board exams.

At the workshops, the teachers train students about the art of taking exams with a relaxed mindset. The workshops place emphasis on building confidence and enjoying learning without losing focus.

The classes held by Nagesh Banchor - who claims to be a world record holder for conducting classes for 84 hours at stretch - have been taken at many venues in the district.