Maharashtra Board Class 10 (SSC) Science I Exam Review and Analysis

How was the Science and Technology Paper-I Exam? Here is an analysis to help you know more!

By 14th Mar, 2018 | 06:14 pm

The Class 10 Board Exams for Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, commonly referred as the SSC exams, are on in full swing.

Today, about 17 lakh students from all over the state appeared for their Science and Technology Paper-I exam.

After the Geometry paper on 12^th March, students got only a 1-day study break to prepare for this exam, so the nerves of a majority of students were clearly on the edge.

Here we analyse the structure and core elements of Science and Technology Paper-I.

Question Paper Structure

The Science and Technology Paper-I had questions worth a total of 50 marks. Students had to attempt questions of only 40 marks.

The questions were distributed as follows:

Question No.	Total Number of Sub-questions	Permitted Attempt	Marks
Q.1 (A)	5	All	1 mark each
Q.1 (B)	5	All	1 mark each
Q.2	6	Any 5 of 6	2 marks each
Q.3	6	Any 5 of 6	3 marks each
Q.4	2	Any 1	5 marks

This year, Question 1 (A) was divided into three parts with 2 questions of ‘Fill in the Blanks’ for 1 mark each, 2 questions of ‘True or False’ for 1 mark each and 1 question of ‘Correlation’ for 1 mark. The rest of the paper structure remained the same as expected.

Distribution of Marks

The question paper of Science and Technology Paper-I is basically a mix of subjects such as Physics, Chemistry and Environmental Studies and their distribution is shown below.

After looking at the subject-wise marks distribution, let us now compare the usual and actual chapter-wise marks distribution of this year’s question paper.

To help our student readers who attempted the various questions, we have analysed the entire question paper of 50 marks without considering the options.

The chapter-wise distribution of marks was according to the usual pattern with a variation of 2%; however, the weightage for ‘The Acid Base Chemistry’ was lower, and the corresponding marks were added to the chapter ‘The Magic of Chemical Reactions’.

Questions, their Types and Difficulty Level

Now let us decode the types of questions and their difficulty level with respect to all the chapters in the syllabus of Science and Technology Paper-I.

Chapter Details		Types of Questions (Marks without Options)				Total Marks
Ch. No.	Chapters	Objective	Short Subjective	Long Subjective	Numerical Problems	Total Marks
1	School of Elements	1	2	3	-	6
2	The Magic of Chemical Reactions	2	-	6	-	8
3	The Acid Base Chemistry	2	-	-	-	2
4	The Electric Spark	1	-	3	3	7
5	All About Electromagnetism	1	2	5	-	8
6	Wonders of Light Part-I	-	2	5	-	7
7	Wonders of Light Part-II	1	4	2	1	8
14	Striving for Better Environment Part-I	1	-	3	-	4

Questions with the most marks were from the chapters ‘The Magic of Chemical Reactions’, ‘All About Electromagnetism’ and ‘Wonders of Light, Part-II’, where a weightage of 8 marks was given to each. Featuring just 2 questions, ‘The Acid Base Chemistry’ had the least marks.

With a diagram question of ‘Structure of the Human Eye’ being asked for 2 marks, objective-type questions being asked for a juicy 9 marks and the dreaded numerical problem being asked for only 4 marks, this paper which was mostly theoretical was obviously smooth sailing even for the below average students.

The paper gave students an opportunity to attempt all questions even if they had some familiarity with concepts.

So, with a happy, peppy Science I paper, students should buckle up for the next paper of Science and Technology Paper-II which is to be held on 16^th March 2018.

SSC students have now reached exactly midway of the board exams, and we hope along with all SSC students in the state that the next half be even better.

Stay tuned with www.topperlearning.com for similar paper reviews and exam updates.