While biology was quite easy by most accounts, the mathematics paper elicited mixed reactions from professors.
Prof Krishna Poojar, a faculty member at BASE, said the biology paper was a standard one and conformed to the prescribed format of an ideal question paper. “Questions appeared from almost all chapters of the prescribed syllabus. Therefore, there was judicious distribution of questions. As per rules, botany and zoology should have questions in the 50:50 ratio and the question paper conformed to this,” he said. Overall there were 30 easy questions, 20 moderate and 10 difficult questions. A hard working student could answer 50-55 questions and an average student could answer 30-35 questions, added Poojar.
Dr Sridhar, Managing Director of Ace Creative Learning, said this year's biology paper was easier than last year’s and was stress-free.
“A few questions were repeated from the previous year’s papers and most students could complete the paper well in time. The biology paper was balanced and scoring paper this year.”
Prof Hanumantharaya, faculty at BASE, said the mathematics question paper was easy compared to previous years. “While 30 questions were easy, 25 questions were moderate and three were difficult as they needed lengthy working,” he said.
Hanumantharaya said the distribution of questions chapterwise was proportionate. “An average student can answer 30 questions easily within the stipulated time. There were 16 questions from I PUC syllabus and the rest from II PUC. Overall it was a good paper,” he added.
In contrast, Sridhar from ACE said the maths paper was quite lengthy and difficult to complete. “A typical bright student could complete around 35 questions, while students preparing for the IIT-JEE and other All India examinations could complete 55 questions,” he said.
All options wrong for a question
Some students and experts pointed out that none of the answer options given for Question 58 (Version C-4) tallied with the right answer.