COVID-19 impact: Will use this extra time to prepare for competitive exams, says CBSE 12th Science student

After the announcement of CBSE board exams being postponed due to Novel Coronavirus, students of Class 12 plan to utilise this time preparing for competitive exams. Earlier, the students were eagerly waiting for the exams to get over.

Amid Coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on March 18 announced that all the exams scheduled between March 19 and March 30 (including both dates) have been postponed. The new dates will be released after assessing the situation. This has caused confusion among students should they wait for the Board to announce new dates, revise for the subjects for which exams are yet to be conducted or start preparing for the upcoming competitive exams. Besides school boards, competitive exams such as JEE, have also been postponed.

Writing exam in a situation of crisis

As he disease has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and with the ever-increasing rate at which it is being spread, the government on March 13 had ordered that all educational institutions across the country to suspend the classes with immediate effect. However, the board exams continued until March 18. Speaking on it, Jasraj Singh, who appeared for his Class 12 Science board exams this year said, “Initially, I didn't consider the outbreak as a serious issue until the news really spread and I realised how big a problem this was. Going to places like examination centres was risky but we had no choice. I took most of the necessary precautions like wearing a mask, using sanitisers frequently, keeping a distance from people and avoiding handshakes.”

Reaction on Board’s decision

While almost all the exams of the main subjects were conducted already and only a few left, students expressed their dissatisfaction with the Board’s decision. “As I didn't take the issue seriously in the beginning, I thought that it was okay for CBSE to continue with the exams. But once most of the schools and a lot of public places were shut down, CBSE should also have stopped. There's no point stopping the examinations now, when all the main ones are over and only one is left. I was fully prepared for the Computer Science exam and was so eager to finally be done with the boards. But now that it's been postponed, they're not officially over,” he said.

Not only school boards but, many competitive exams have also been deferred due to COVID-19. While some students might choose to relax in these off days, some may revise the syllabus all over again for the upcoming boards and others will prepare for the competitive exams.

How do you plan to spend the days?

“The postponement of the exam wouldn't really impact my performance. I plan to begin preparing for my competitive exams now,” added Jasraj. Diksha Bansal, a Class 12 Humanities student, is elated due to postponement of exams. With Geography paper left, she plans to prepare better for it in order to score well. She added that while the easiest paper was English, History was tough.

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