ICSE to conduct board exams for Class 5 and 8 students from 2018

As per Hindustan Times, this declaration was made by the council CEO Gerry Arathoon in Kolkata on Wednesday.

"Students won't require any additional preparations for these exams. The tests will not require them to recall lessons learnt between pre-primary and V or between VI and VIII. Rather, the test will be aptitude-based and will try to assess the ability and understanding of a student to apply the lessons learnt, solve the problems and think creatively," The Times of India quoted Arathoon as saying.

According to Arathoon, the examinations will have no pass-fail tags. Both of them with be considered as a periodical evaluation exercise to have an idea on the progress of the students' learning after a particular level. 

However, alike ICSE and ISC, the board will set the question papers for class 5 and 8 students and the answer sheets of one school will be evaluated by the teachers of another school.

The students will be tested on four subjects - English, mathematics, social studies and science - and the questions will be in the MCQ format, TOI reported.

"Data available through the assessment will give better support to students, give insight to parents about the performance of their children, keep a tab on the progress of the student and also help students identify career dimensions that align with their interests and academic strengths," Arathoon was further quoted as saying.