One other shortcoming is the fact that huge numbers of students are grouped together. For example, last year there were 348 students in Navi Mummbai at Universal Tutorials all scoring more than 90 per cent. It is possible that a scenario will emerge wherein all students scoring above, say, 91 per cent in all subjects will have the same cumulative grading. This poses the problem of how do you rank them? What will the admission process for the Standard XI based on?
In an attempt to address the problem a percentile mark has been introduced by the board. The percentile of a student indicates the position or rank of the student in percentage form. The top ranked student will get a percentile of 100. This is calculated by the formula, 'Number of students below student X 100 divided by (total no of students -1). However, this in itself brings its own setback. The grading system may actually lead to more stress and disincentive to performance.
In addition to CBSE, Secondary School Certificates by state boards and those governing the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education are also conducting exams for Standard X and continue to follow the marks system and percentage of mark in each subject. Marks percentage and percentile are not comparable. This leads to an open ended situation particularly for the Standard XI admission process and those seeking admission from CBSE to other boards. This issue is still to be resolved and a decision needs to be made regarding how it will be tackled.