The cut-offs for UG or undergraduate admissions are likely to come down if various education boards in the country decide to do away with the practice of awarding grace marks. The Ministry of Human Resource and Development is planning to hold consultations with various state education boards to decide if they can scrap the practice of awarding grace marks in particular papers. Usually, the education boards award grace marks only if it feels that questions are difficult.
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In December 2016, the Central Board of Secondary Education had come up with an idea of scrapping grace marks that were leading to inflation of scores. For this propose, the CBSE had sought the help from Ministry of Human Resource and Development. The MHRD directed all the state education boards to develop a consensus on ending the policy of awarding grace marks.
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As per the ‘Moderation’ policy, the students have a chance to get extra marks up to 15% in certain papers. It happens only when the questions are deemed difficult. In the year 2016, the Central Board of Secondary Education awarded around 16 extra marks in Class 12 mathematics exam during the process of standardization.
CBSE had standardized marks in nine subjects up to 10 percent. Due to this attempt made by CBSE, a student who scored 77 marks in mathematics ended up getting 93 marks on the marks sheet. In the same way, a student who secured 80 marks in business studies ended up getting 92 marks.
Ministry of Human Resource and Development will hold a meeting with all state boards on April 24, 2017, and the final decision is likely to be taken up there.