TG BIE revises intermediate exam pattern to reduce memorisation burden

The Telangana Board of Intermediate Education has revised the first-year Intermediate examination pattern from 2026–27 to reduce rote learning and encourage conceptual understanding. Major changes include fewer long-answer questions, reduced marks, and internal assessments across Mathematics, CEC, humanities, and language subjects.

Hyderabad: In a move that could reduce the pressure of memorising lengthy answers and encourage conceptual understanding, the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TG BIE) has revised the first-year intermediate public examinations question paper pattern.

Except for Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology, the theory examination pattern has been revised for all subjects. The board restructured question papers, introducing internal assessment of 15 and 20 marks for Mathematics, CEC and Humanities streams, and languages from the academic year 2026-27.

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As per the model question papers released by the TG BIE, the Mathematics I-A and I-B papers will be conducted for a total of 60 marks each as against 75 marks in the past. Major changes have been made in the short and long-answer sections in both maths papers.

Retaining 10 compulsory very short-answer questions of two marks each in Section A, the Board increased the number of short-type answer questions to be answered from five to six, with each having four marks, in Section B.

Students have been given a major relief in Section C where they need to answer only two out of three long-answer questions as against five out of seven questions in the past. Marks for each question in this section have been increased from seven to eight. Overall, students have to attempt 18 out of 21 questions as against earlier 20 out of 24 in Mathematics 1-A and 1-B.

Further, students opting for the CEC will also have less academic burden as exams for each subject will be conducted for 80 as against 100 marks in the past. Accordingly, the weightage for Commerce’s Part I and II (Accountancy) has come down from 50 to 40 marks each. Students need to answer two out of three questions of six marks each instead of 10 in Section A.

While the Board did not change the pattern of answering four of six questions in Section B, it reduced the marks from five to four allotted for each question. In Section C, it changed the answering pattern to six out of nine questions of two marks each, instead of five out of eight earlier.

As for Part-II (Accountancy), the number of questions in Section D remains unchanged. However, marks for each question are reduced from 20 to 12.

In Section E, students have been given the choice of answering three out of five questions of six marks each as against one out of two questions of 10 marks each in the past. The earlier Section F, comprising two five-mark questions, is scrapped, and five two-mark questions have been retained.

Economics and Civics question papers have also been revised. In both subjects, long-answer questions in Section A will have a weightage of eight instead of 10 marks and eight Section B questions carry four instead of five marks. The number of questions has been reduced from 20 to 16, and students should answer 12 instead of 15 questions in Section C. A similar pattern is applicable to the History subject as well.