HPBOSE CLASS 12 English Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme

SECTION - A

READING UNSEEN PASSAGES AND NOTE MAKING (17 Marks)

The total length of the two passages will be between 950- 1200 words. The passages will include two of the following :

• Factual Passages instructions, descriptions, reports.
• Discursive Passage involving opinion g. argumentative, persuasive or interpretative text.
• Literary Passage g. extract from fiction, drama, Poetry, essay or biography.

SUMMARY

Reading Section	No. of Words	Name of the Lesson	Testing Areas Marks Allotted
1.	600-700	Unseen Passage	1. MCQ 07 2. Objective 03
2.	350-500	Note-making and summary	1. Subjective 07

A passage of about 600-700 words carrying 10 marks and another passage of about 350-500 words carrying 07 marks.

1. A passage to test reading comprehension. The passage can be literary factual or discursive. The length of the passage should be between 600-700  words (10 Marks)
2. A shorter passage of 350-500 words for note-making and abstraction ( 07 Marks)

SECTION - B Creative writing Skills (26 Marks)

3. One out of two short compositions of not more than 50 words each e.g. advertisement and notices, designing or drafting posters, writing formal and informal invitations and replies. (4 Marks)
4. A report or a factual description based on verbal input provided (one out of two) (100-125 words) and MCQ  of 6 marks and 4 marks respectively

5. Writing one out of two letters based on verbal input (6 marks)

Letter types include :

• business or official letters (for making enquiries, registering  complaints, asking for and giving information, placing orders and sending replies);
• letters to the editor (giving suggestions on an issue)
• application for a job

6. One out of two compositions based on visual or verbal inputs (150-200 words). Output may be descriptive or argumentative in nature such as an article, or a speech. (6 Marks)

SECTION - C

Text Books (37 Marks)

Prescribed Books :

English reader (23 marks)

7. One out of two extracts based on poetry from the text to test (Comprehension and appreciation) (4 marks)

8. Two out of four short questions from the poetry sections to test local and global comprehension of text and MCQ. (4 marks and 1 mark respectively)
9. Three short answer question based on the lessons from prescribed text. (2X3) and MCQ(1x2) 

10. One out of two long answer type questions based on the text to test global comprehension and extrapolation beyond the set text. (Expected w word limit about 125-150 words each)

Supplementary Reader

11. One out of two long answer type question   based on supplementary. Reader to test comprehension and extrapolation of theme, character and incidents (Expected word limit about 125-150 words)

12. Three short answer question from the Supplementary Reader (2X3) and MCQ(1x2) 

HPBOSE CLASS 12 English Marking Scheme

Section A	Reading Skills Reading unseen prose passages and note making	17 Marks
Section B	Creative writing skills	26 Marks
Section C	English Reader	23 Marks
	Supplementary Reader	14 Marks

HPBOSE CLASS 12 English Syllabus

Students are expected to have acquired a reasonable degree of language proficiency in English by the time they come to class XII, and the course will aim, essentially, at promoting the higher-order language skills.

For a large number of students, the senior secondary stage will be a preparation for the university, where a fairly high degree of proficiency in English may be required. But for another large group, the senior secondary stage may be a preparation for entry into the world of work. The Core Courses should cater to both groups by promoting the language skills required for academic study as well as the language skills required for the workplace.

OBJECTIVE

The general objective at this stage are :

• to listen to and comprehend live as well as recorded oral presentations on a variety of 
• to develop greater confidence and proficiency in the use of language skills necessary for social and academic purposes.
• to participate in group discussion/interviews, making short oral presentation of given 
• to perceive the overall meaning and organization of the text (i.e., the relationships of the different ‘’chunks’’ in the text to the each other).
• to identify the central/main point and supporting details 
• to build communicative competence in various registers of 
• to promote advance language skills with an aim to develop the skills of reasoning, drawing inferences etc. through meaningful 
• to develop ability and knowledge required in order to engage in independent reflection and 
• to develop the capacity to appreciate literary use of English and also use English creatively and 

At the end of this stage learners will be able to do the following :

• read and comprehend extended texts (prescribed and non-prescribed) in the following genres : fiction, science fiction, drama, poetry, biography, autobiography, travel and sports literature, 
• text-based writing (i.e., writing in response to questions or tasks based on prescribed or unseen texts)
• understand and respond to lectures, speeches, 
• write expository/argumentative essays of 250-500 words, explaining or developing a topic, arguing a case, 
• write formal/informal letters and applications for different 
• write items related to the workplace (minutes, memoranda, notices, summaries, reports; filling up of forms, preparing CVs, e-mail messages etc.)
• taking/making notes from reference materials, recorded talks 

LANGUAGE ITEMS

The Core Course should draw upon the language items suggested for classes IX-X and develop deeper into their usage and functions. Particular attention may, however, be given to the following areas of grammar:

• The uses of different tense forms for different kinds of narration (e.g. media, commentaries, reports, programmer, etc)
• The use of passive forms in scientific and innovative 
• Convert in gone kind of sentence/clause into a different kind of structure of well as other items to exemplify stylistic variations in different discourses
• Modal auxiliaries – used based on semantic 

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

The techniques used for teaching should promote habits of self-learning and reduce dependence on the teacher. In general, we recommend a multi-skill, learner-centred, activity based approach, of which there can be many variations. The core classroom activity is likely to be that of silent reading of prescribed/selected texts for comprehension, which can lead to other forms of language learning activities such as role play, dramatization, group discussion, writing, etc. although many such activities could be carried out without the preliminary use of textual material. It is important that students be trained to read independently and intelligently, interacting actively with texts, with the use of reference materials (dictionaries, thesauruses, etc.) where necessary. Some pre-reading activity will generally be required, and the course books should suggest suitable activities, leaving teachers free to devise other activities when desired. So also, the reading of texts should be followed by post reading activities. It is important to remember that every text can generate different readings. Students should be encouraged to interpret texts in different ways.

Group and pair activities can be resorted to when desired, but many useful language activities can be carried out individually.

In general, teachers should encourage students to interact actively with texts and with each other. Oral activity (group discussion, etc.) should be encouraged.

HPBOSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2023-2024 - Download PDF