BIG NEWS! CBSE scraps marks moderation policy; no more grace marks for difficult questions

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday scrapped the moderation policy under which grace marks are given to students in exams for difficult questions.

The decision, taken at a high-level meeting, could result in lower cut-offs in university entrances.

The move comes after the CBSE had in December last year requested the Human Resource Development Ministry to help develop a consensus among all state boards on completely removing the marks moderation policy which is considered as the reason behind inflated scores in board exam results.

Under the moderation policy, examinees are awarded up to 15 percent extra marks in certain papers if the questions are deemed to be difficult.

However, the practice of awarding grace marks will continue to ensure that a student clears an exam if he or she needs a few marks to do so.

If the states also decide to adopt the policy, the soaring cut-offs for admission to colleges are likely to go down.

The CBSE has opined that a unilateral scrapping of the policy would put its students at a disadvantage during undergraduate admissions and considered it important that all state boards agree to it.

(With PTI inputs)