Mumbai For 18-year-old Mohammed Bhadsorawala, lockdown or not, he knew he had to focus on his studies and ensure he is prepared for the worst.
“We gave online exams throughout classes 11 and 12, but I made sure I was mentally prepared to appear for a physical paper as well. That kept my head in place in the last few months before exams,” said Mohammed, a student of Jai Hind College, who scored 96.83% in the science stream.
Results for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC-Class 12) exams were announced on Wednesday and 93.23% (fresh and repeat candidates) of the 14.75 lakh students in the state who appeared for the exam this year, have passed. Similarly, the pass percentage of Mumbai division stood at 89.68% (fresh and repeat candidates).
Once again, girls have outperformed boys with 91.01% of girls clearing the exam in Mumbai division compared to 88.51% of boys. The figure at the state-level stood at 94.71% of girls passing the exam as compared to 92.03% of boys. The stream-wise success rate in the Mumbai division stood at 95.52%, 82.93% and 98.33% for science, arts and commerce respectively.
By February this year, the state government had clarified that all board exams will be held offline. “The last physical exam was my class 10 board exam, and then two years later, I was suddenly preparing for another physical exam. I was unsure at first but eventually our teachers helped us by conducting multiple tests. Solving previous years’ question papers also worked in my favour,” said Rishab Shah, student of HR College, who scored 96.67% in the commerce stream.
While students were still worried about the sudden transition to offline exams after completing over 90% of their curriculum online, college teachers too were a worried lot. “We ensured our students are prepared for exams no matter the format. Prelims were kept offline and while students were protesting against it, they are now seeing the benefit of appearing for a physical exam before the actual board exams,” said Anushree Lokur, principal of Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga.
Other than home and college practice, many students felt the advantage of extra 30-minutes awarded to students for all papers this year was a big boost. “Our three-hour papers lasted for an extra 30-minutes, which helped me complete. Lack of writing practice was a big challenge, so I would spend a lot of time solving papers before the board exams,” said Nishi Thakkar, student of Mithibai College, who scored 94.33% in the Arts stream.
