HSC: 13 lakh will appear from February 22

Over 13 lakh students across the state would be appearing for the higher secondary certificate (HSC) examination, conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, from February 22.

In a statement issued by the board, while 3,91,058 students would be appearing in the science stream, 5,33,301 would take up examination in the arts stream. For commerce stream 3,45,888 students would appear for the examination.

“Moreover, 59,854 students would appear for minimum competency vocational courses (MCVC),” the statement added.

The board has for the first time prepared the examination schedule in such a manner that there are one-day gaps before they sit for major papers. This has been apparently done so that students get sufficient time to prepare for those exams.

For English, multiple question papers have been prepared so that two students sitting beside each other do not get the same set of questions. All the questions would be from the syllabus.

This time students who have appeared for environmental science subject would be marked out of 40% on internal assessment. The written test would carry 60% weightage. In internal assessment the passing marks is 14 and in written it is above 21 marks.

Dyslexic students would be allowed to use calculators for mathematics in all streams. The board has set up to 245 inspections teams to control cheating incidents. It has also decided to pay surprise visits to examination halls. Video-shooting will also be done.