Education board announces new question paper pattern for 2025 exams

The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education has announced the new pattern for the annual board exams to be held in March 2025. Under this new system, students will get a balanced set of easy, normal and difficult questions across different classes. This pattern aims to better prepare students for competitive exams after schooling.

In the upcoming exams, 40 per cent questions will be easy, 35 per cent normal level and 25 per cent difficult. Students will get easy questions worth 32 marks, normal level questions worth 28 marks and difficult questions worth 20 marks, making the exam more structured and predictable. These changes will apply to classes 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

To help students and teachers adapt to the new pattern, model papers and updated marking scheme have been uploaded on the board’s website, with class-wise and subject-wise distribution of questions and marks. Dr. Major Vishal Sharma, Secretary, Board of School Education, said, “The main objective of this change is to help the students of the education board excel in competitive examinations.”

The detailed description includes different types of questions:

• 16 one-mark questions, of which nine will be easy, four normal and three difficult.
• Nine two-mark questions, of which five will be easy, two normal and two difficult.
• Six three-mark questions, of which three will be easy, two normal and one difficult.
• Three four-mark questions, of which one will be easy and two normal.
• Two five-mark questions, both classified as difficult.
• One six-mark question from the general category.

Additionally, OMR sheets will be provided for multiple choice questions (MCQs), making the evaluation process more accurate and efficient. The new approach is expected to benefit students by providing a more balanced examination structure, with an emphasis on easing the transition from school examinations to competitive examinations.

These changes come as a part of the education board’s ongoing efforts to modernize assessment methods using modern technology and phased marking schemes. Teachers and students are encouraged to use model papers available online to get familiar with the new format ahead of the 2025 exams.