CBSE English Paper 2019 Class 12: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 English Exam 2019 held on 2nd March 2019, last week, left exam partakers in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir astonished when they figured out that there was no internal choice given in Questions 11 and 12 from the Novels - The Invisible Man and Silas Marner. Both the questions carried 6 marks, and as per the past trends or past question papers of the Central Board of Secondary Education aka CBSE, there has always been a choice given in these questions.


Varying from school to school, students of Class 12th CBSE generally read either The Invisible Man by HG Wells ( a science fiction) or Silas Marner by George Eliot (a domestic fiction) and prepare for the very long answer based on these novels.

‘#CBSE#EnglishCorepaper#Class12English Major error in not giving choice for question no 11 & 12. Every school follows only one book while question was from both books. Please allot full grace marks to the stumped students,’ tweeted a parent.

However, on 2nd March 2019, the CBSE Class 12 English Core paper carried no internal choice between the questions posed from the aforementioned novels. While Question 11 comprised sub questions from one novel, question 12 had sub questions from the other one, leaving students in a tizzy for knowing only either one of the two.

‘As per CBSE there are two novels in 12th board.
Both que 11 & 12 needs to have 2 questions from each novel.
But 11th question comprised of only Silas Marner.
Students having Invisible Man couldn't write it.
CBSE must give grace marks here.#AcademicTwitter @cbseportal @CBSEINDIA’ tweeted another user.

While students and parents are demanding grace marks for this alleged goof up by the CBSE, several Parents’ associations including Chandigarh Parents’ Association have submitted a dossier to the Controller of Examination, CBSE to take necessary action.

‘CBSE should give full marks for the fault in question no. 11 and 12 in English (core) paper. #CBSE @cbseindia29 why should the students suffer?’ questioned twitterati.

Sending out a sigh of relief, Reema Deewan, City Coordinator CBSE was quoted as saying, “The children should relax and focus on the next examination. If there are any gaps, it will be conveyed to CBSE through its internal channels. If it is established that there was an error in paper setting, CBSE will take care of it.”

The CBSE Class 12 English Exam 2019 fiasco over internal choice in the questions based on Novels has been called out only in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir, and in the Union Territory (UT) Chandigarh.

CBSE has issued a notification on its official website regarding Anomalies in Question Papers and clarified, ‘All observations are compiled and provided to the group preparing Marking Schemes to make the provision to address the anomaly in such a manner that students interest is protected.’

Read CBSE Notification on Anomalies in Question Papers Here

Education Loan Information:

Calculate Education Loan EMI