The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will divide the Class 10 into two semesters, as in management and engineering colleges, to make the evaluation process easier and smoother after board exams are scrapped from 2011.

'Once the examination is scrapped from 2011, we will divide the year into two terms - they are like two semesters (April to September, and October to March),' a senior CBSE official told IANS Monday.

'Initially, students will be evaluated for the first six months and in the second half of the year students don't need to bother about what they studied in the first semester,' the official added.

In each semester there will be two 'formative assessments' and one 'summative assessment'.

Formative assessment is carried out during a course of instruction for providing continuous feedback. It will take into account both teacher's and learner's point of view in understanding and internalising a subject. It will comprise of interviews, conversations, projects and assignments among others.

In a summative assessment, grades will be given to students by their schools based on overall performance. While 40 percent of the evaluation will be through formative assessment, the rest will be through summative assessment.

From 2011, the students' evaluation would be based exclusively on a nine-point grading system. But this will be introduced this academic year itself. 'This academic year, there will be both a Board examination and a grading system,' the minister said.

Under the new system, there will be nine grades: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D, E1 and E2.