Open book exam by CBSE will test Higher Order Thinking Skills!

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has improvised its examination system for Class IX and Class XI students from next year. It will introduce a new innovative component in the final exams of these classes which will be conducted in March 2014 and will be called the ‘open book’ section.

For Class IX students, the open book exam will be conducted for all main subjects while for Class XI students, the exam will be conducted only for Economics, Biology and Geography.

For the open book exam, students will be given case studies in each subject four months prior to the final exams (by December 2013). The case studies will be related to the concepts in the syllabi of students.

Some textual material will be given to students of the CBSE-affiliated schools related to their case studies, which might be in the form of diagrams, articles, or even problematic situations. The CBSE will also come up with guides to help students and their parents in test preparation.

Students will then be asked two to three questions based on these case studies to access the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) of students. The questions will be open-ended, creative and thoughtful. The open book exam will carry 20 per cent weightage of the exam.

A break from rote learning, the open book exam is expected to encourage students to first understand and then learn something. It will help them develop research skills, theoretical skills, analytical skills and a capability to think deeply.