No marks even for right answer: SSLC 'A-plus' dreams at risk as rigid key hits students hard

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Allegations are rising that the strict stance taken in the valuation of the Kerala SSLC Mathematics exam is becoming a setback for students. Teachers conducting the valuation report that the official answer key has been prepared in a way that denies marks even to those who provided mathematically correct answers for Question 18. Teachers' associations are protesting strongly at valuation camps, demanding an immediate amendment to the answer key to protect the students' futures.

Correct answers marked wrong

The controversy centres on Question 18, which asked:

"Write the sequence of natural numbers which leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 4."

The vast majority of students wrote the sequence as 5, 9, 13, .... However, the official answer key provided by the government stipulates that marks should only be awarded to those who wrote 1, 5, 9, ....

Mathematical discrepancy

Teachers point out that the question did not explicitly ask for the sequence of "all" such natural numbers. In this context, starting the sequence from 5 is mathematically perfectly valid. Since numbers like 5, 9, and 13 do indeed leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 4, denying marks to these students is seen as an injustice. Educators noted that even students with a deep understanding of the subject chose to start the sequence with 5.

A-Plus grades at risk

The impact is compounded because the two subsequent sub-questions depend on the first part of the answer. By marking the first part as "wrong," students lose the full 4 marks allotted to that question.

Losing 4 marks—which accounts for 5% of the total score—could result in tens of thousands of students dropping by an entire grade level and thousands of high-achievers losing their A-Plus status.