New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) The number of students securing a ‘perfect score’ - or 100 out of 100 marks in subjects - has come down by over 50 percent in this year’s Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 exams, and the board says the reason is ‘HOTS’. High order thinking skills — or HOTS — was the new basis of the question papers in the class 12 examination question papers of the board this year. HOTS is an analytical problem solving process, geared to assess the students’ absorption of knowledge and its application.

Only 753 class 12 students have scored 100 marks in any subjects as compared to 1,506 last year, the education board said, after declaring the results here Friday. A total of 549,344 students appeared in the examination.

“The new examination pattern with focus on judging the high order thinking skills (HOTS) of students might be the reason behind a dip in the number of students (scoring)cent per cent,” CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly said.

“Unlike last year, no one has scored 100 out of 100 in languages. Last year, six students - one in English and five in Sanskrit - had scored 100 out of 100,” Ganguly told IANS.

The chairman said last year 1,146 students had perfect score in mathematics, but this year just 344 have achieved this success. Of the total 344 candidates who scored 100 out of 100 marks in mathematics, 105 are from Delhi.

“Though there is a dip in this section, we believe that HOTS is better for our students. In the long run, it will help students to face competition and come out successful,” Ganguly added.

This year, 549,344 candidates appeared for the CBSE Class 12 exams in India and abroad - an increase of 9.18 percent over last year. The overall pass percentage was 80.91.

Of the six zones, Chennai topped the list with the highest pass figures of 91.39 percent, followed by Ajmer (85.18 percent), Delhi (83.69 percent), Panchkula (80.8 percent), Allahabad (75.23 percent) and Guwahati (63.24 percent).

Besides mathematics, this year 99 have scored 100 percent in paintings, 42 in biology, 50 in chemistry, 29 in computer science and 32 in accountancy.

In physics, he said, last year 26 candidates had scored cent percent marks but this time only four have managed to get that figure. One student from Delhi, Sonali Vighnalia, has scored cent per cent in physics.

The CBSE declared its Class 12 results Friday. As many as 8,252 students, including five physically challenged students, have scored 90 percent or above in the examinations. He said, 384 candidates have scored 95 percent or above.