SSLC Maths paper poses no problem to most students

Class-10 students in Kerala who are appearing for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examinations had another easy outing on Monday as most of them would have found the Maths exam a cakewalk as expected.

None of the first four questions might have posed any challenge to students. With regard to question number three, they only need to hit on the concept that the shaded portion was two-thirds of the total portion. Likewise, those who found the ratio of the sides of the triangle could solve question number four in no time. In short, six marks could be scored easily from this part.

Questions 5 to 10 too would not have troubled students and three were easy ones. Question number 6 relating to Triangles, question 5 on Coordinates, and question 8 on Geometry were all simple. Similarly, part ‘B’ of question 10 would have posed no difficulty to students who know the concept. And for question 7, the students only need to know the two numbers that, if added, would give 40 and multiplied a product of 351.

Questions from 11 to 21, carrying four marks, were the ones deciding the higher grades. Here also, most would have found choosing eight questions an easy task. Question number 11 on Polynomials is a frequently asked one.

Same pattern questions similar to question 13 (Tangents), question 15 (Probability), question 19 (Trigonometry), question 17 (Co-ordinates), and question 21 (Pyramid) were discussed in classes many times. Question number 16 is on Second Degree equations. Here, it’s clearly given that the difference between the perpendicular sides is two. Students only need to apply common sense to find out that the numbers are 6 and 8, which would get them the product 48.

With respect to part ‘C’ of question 20, students are assured of full marks if they know the theory that the diagonals of a parallelogram meet at the centre.

However, question 14 relating to arithmetic sequence was a bit complex and could be figured out by the above-average students, mostly.

Students would have faced no issues in choosing six easy ones out of the five-mark questions from question number 22 to 29. Questions 22 (Statistics), 23 (Triangles), 27 (Arithmetic progression), and 28 (Trigonometry) were all commonly asked problems and the students might have found them easy. Only part ‘B’ of question 28 was a little different. Here, the students have to work out the problem based on the ratio given in the question. Also, they have to apply their mind while solving the ‘D’ and ‘E’ parts of question 25, which was related to Circles and Tangents.

Question number 26 based on Prisms could be solved quickly by those who have an idea of shapes in their mind. Similarly, most students who could grasp the concept of question number 29, related to Geometry, could have faced no issues.