The Rush for MCQs!

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The CISCE board has recently announced that the 10th and 12th board exams for ICSE will be based on Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). A similar announcement was also made by the CBSE board. The first term exam will take place sometime in November 2021, which is just two months away! This has resulted in schools, parents and teachers frantically looking for a solution to practice this pattern of questions.

If you have taken a moment to read our story, and also the concept on which the FlashCardz platform is based, you will realise that Multiple Choice Questions have always been an integral part of the study method we offer to our students. This is because our mission is to help students organize their self study and revision around the best possible approach. And we know that continous self-testing is the best known revision approach to become exam sharp. MCQs are an important part of self-assessment and continuous self-testing that we embraced almost 3 years ago.

The MCQ testing approach we offer has been refined over a number of years, and the method as well as content is very comprehensive. That is why our platform has become a natural "go to" place for ICSE and CBSE students to get used to this new pattern. Anyone preparing for 10th standard ICSE or CBSE exams will benefit greatly by using our platform.

However the value of MCQs goes far beyond the new pattern board exam for ICSE.

  • Almost all competitive exams - whether they are for science, arts or commerce streams - are based on MCQs. Getting used to MCQs is a great investment to get into the mindset of answering MCQ based tests.
  • MCQs are a great evaluation technique to quickly evaluate both the breadth and depth of understanding of a student. This is because:
    • MCQ tests can cover more questions in the same amount of time compared to conventional tests
    • Intelligently designed MCQ tests can test a student's understanding at all levels of Bloom's taxonomy - from recall, all the way to analysis and evaluation
    • MCQ tests are a quick method to measure a student's progress, and identify weak areas in a student's understanding
  • Alternating between flashcards and MCQs is one of the best ways to revise, check for understanding, and improve. The FlashCardz platform is built on this philosophy.
We therefore recommend that students use the combination of flashcards, crosswords, and MCQs to revise, check for understanding and improve their understanding and exam performance.

Our approach has clearly been validated by all the major boards moving towards a larger proportion of objective type questions in their exams.

All the best to our students!

Learner, educator, technologist and blogger. My current passion is FlashCardz, a company I founded to help kids study smart and maximise performance.

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