CBSE XII standard Math paper 2016 was a bitter and agonizing experience for students all over India. Not that the questions were very tough but they ran straight against the pattern the students were trained to follow. One-mark questions in effect needed the time and labour of a four-marks question and students found they could attend only less than fifty percent of the questions with confidence. In fact the whole episode of the exam turned out to be a nightmare for the CBSE student community.

Media reports have clearly reflected the tears of the students and many have confessed that they will not be able to gather a pass mark if the paper is valued strictly. The issue has attracted public attention and was discussed in the parliament. Parliamentary affairs minister Venkiah Naidu offered to bring the matter to the notice of Human Resource Minister but the response of the CBSE was totally disappointing. They denied the reports of a leakage of the question paper in certain pockets and refused to conduct a re-test. Y.S.K. Seshukumar, the board chairman of CBSE has said that "Remedial measures could be in the form of lenient checking." "The students who have worked out the problems with corrects steps will be getting marks for those questions even if they have failed to reach to get the correct answer".

This may be satisfactory for many but for the bright and the above average students this decision raises many problems.  Even the bright students were not able to understand questions and hence failed to solve them through "correct steps". And what about those who could not find time even to attend questions in an unusually tough examination which needed at least five hours to finish it?

The only solution for the present crisis is a re-test with XII standard questions (not IIT standard) and in the pattern students were advised to follow. This is the appropriate step through which CBSE can do justice to the student community and to regain its lost image.