HSC exams to be 2 hours, with fewer marks 

The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations for 2022 will be shorter, with fewer total marks, and are likely to begin on 22 August.

As per the decision taken by the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, the exams will take place for two hours (1.4 hours for written exams and 20 minutes for MCQ). Before the pandemic, HSC exams were three hours long.

Now the mark distribution for subjects that do not have any practical examinations will be: Creative - 40, Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) - 15 (total- 55). For subjects that have practical examinations, the distribution will be: Creative - 30, MCQ - 15 (total 45).

The HSC examinees will be tested on the subjects of Bangla, English, three group-based elective subjects, and one optional subject.

The Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education set the probable HSC examination dates to start 22 August.

The exams are usually held in February and April but like in recent previous years, the government had to defer this year's SSC, HSC and equivalent examinations too, impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SSC and HSC exams were held months behind schedule in November and December 2021 last year, due to the pandemic, following the resumption of in-person classes. Last year the syllabus was shortened and students were tested on three elective subjects only.

Before that, with the start of the pandemic, all educational institutions were shut down in 2020, there were no HSC exams, and students were promoted automatically.

In 2021, schools and colleges were again closed from 21 January to 6 February for a second time, and later the closures were extended till 21 February this year. 

High schools and colleges reopened on 22 February and primary schools resumed in-person classes from 2 March this year.