The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations in Kerala commenced the other day with the First Language Part 1 paper. Most candidates found the opening exam, Malayalam Paper I, easy and hope to breeze through it though some were short of time as they struggled to finish. Also, many students were reportedly confused over the 4-mark questions.
Most questions demanded subjective responses from the examinees as they asked for appreciation, analysis, observation, criticism, essay writing, editorial writing, etc.
Those who have thoroughly gone through the chapters could score maximum in the first part, which required answering any four questions.
Of the questions from 6 to 8, which carried two marks each, attending question number eight required a lot of involvement and comprehension skills by the students.
The third part (9-14), which comprised questions with 4 marks each, might have unsettled many students. Question number 10, which sought a comparative note on how the differences in the thoughts of both Nalini and Divakaran were visible in the lines, has been panned widely for maintaining a much higher level of standard than expected of a Class 10 student.
Also, question number 14, based on the poem 'Ashwamedham’, might have posed some trouble for average students.
For those who have learned the core of each chapter, the questions given in the fourth part (15-17) were much easier. The 16th question was about writing an editorial.
The question, which sought to analyze the context of the poem ‘Michael Angelo, Mappu’, by connecting it with the memoir titled ‘Snehapoorvam Amma’ by Sugathakumari, offered a delightful writing experience to those who read voraciously and have good imagination.
Question number 17, which sought to prepare an appreciation of V Madhusoodhanan Nair's poem 'Onakinavu’, which was given in the question paper, was a novel experience. Students might not have had much difficulty in preparing the appreciation, as they had already learned the poem 'Onamuttathu’ appearing in their textbook.
The SSLC exam commenced on March 9.