Physics centums plummet

CHENNAI: For a large part, the Class XII results that were announced on Tuesday were on expected lines. But drastic changes in the number of centums scored in three subjects left many wondering where they had slipped. While number of centums in Computer Science and Accountancy have almost doubled, centums in Physics dropped from 646 last year to 142 this year.It wasn’t even a difficult paper, according to a Vijula, Physics teacher in Chennai. The paper was on expected lines, but for a single one-mark question, which she suspects could have done the damage. “That question was unexpected and tough. It was slightly indirect and based on the CBSE pattern. My assessment is that’s where a lot of students lost out on their centums,” she says.The picture was a lot rosier, understandably, with Accountancy and Computer Science. Teachers handling these subjects speculated that their wards may have taken the subjects more seriously and devoted more time to them. Centums in Accountancy rose from 1,320 last year to 2,518 this year while in Computer Science it rose from 223 to 615 — a growth of a whopping 175 per cent.“The paper was no easier than usual. The children may have concentrated more this year, or have taken extra coaching. Usually it is a lot easier to get a centum in Commerce. It is more difficult with Accountancy because of the numbers involved. I didn’t go for correction this year, so I am not sure what happened,” says June Thomas, an Accountancy teacher in Chennai.The Computer Science students didn’t have it as straightforward. “There were many unexpected questions. The two-mark questions were tougher than the one-mark and five-mark questions. Maybe students just put in extra effort into getting a centum,” says Jecintha Preethi, a Computer Science teacher in the city.