Passing board exams is one of the most important milestones in completing school. Yet every year, problems such as delays, wrong marks, or errors in marking sheets cause additional anxiety for students as they await their results. With millions of students taking board exams each year, any individual error can have a significant effect on students’ lives. This is where AI can play a key role in helping.
At this time, many boards use a very labor-intensive examination process that relies on manual processes. Teachers check exam answer sheets manually, enter grades manually into the systems, and then process final results over many steps in the checking, totaling, and processing of the results. Consequently, many human errors are possible, and the entire process is slowed down.
The high volume of answer sheets creates significant errors by experienced examiners when marking or totaling grades. Errors in data entry are also common when grades are entered from the physical grading sheets into the computer systems. In addition, coordination between multiple exam centers and evaluators takes time, which causes delays in announcing the results.
The use of AI to improve the speed and accuracy of result processing is substantial. AI is able to perform tedious and repetitive tasks much more efficiently than humans, thereby also reducing the chances of error.
Manish Mohta, founder of Learning Spiral, said, "AI systems can evaluate objective-type questions (i.e., MCQ, one-word, etc.) in a very short period of time with absolute precision, while also assisting teachers with the evaluation of subjective responses through pattern recognition and point identification and establishing marks. This does not replace the teacher's role but supports them with evaluations by ensuring consistency and fairness."
In addition, AI is effective for the calculation and verification of marks. AI can automatically total marks and perform cross-checks against the marks entered into the database, ensuring that no marks are either missed or added incorrectly. By performing these tasks, AI will reduce one of the most common forms of errors in producing results.
Furthermore, the overall processes of producing results will be quicker due to the fact that AI is able to sort through large amounts of data in a matter of seconds. Typically, the average time it takes to produce results will have a considerable decrease from what is currently experienced, while at the same time maintaining the same level of accuracy as possible. As a result, students will experience shorter waiting times between reaching a conclusion and receiving their final grades.
Utilization of AI in high school assessments will greatly improve student outcomes. Having results available faster decreases anxiety and uncertainty. Additionally, marking accuracy increases student confidence in the evaluation process. Students will feel confident that they were assessed fairly and accurately.
"It reduces the volume of re-evaluation requests, which consume time and energy. The overall experience for students and administrators is far more positive (in terms of how smoothly everything goes) when the number of mistakes made before publishing any results has been greatly reduced," Manish Mohta said.
AI has many benefits, but it is still not an optimal independent solution. There are a variety of challenges associated with implementing AI, such as funding, infrastructure, and training logistics.
In evaluating subjective answers with AI, there can also be a concern since these assessments often depend on a human perspective and/or expertise; therefore, using AI to evaluate subjective answers could hinder the ability to evaluate them adequately.
Day-to-day data security/ protection of privacy is also very important because of students' information being exposed. For all of these reasons, AI should only serve as a complementary tool in conjunction with human evaluation rather than as the sole evaluation method.
A mixture of human skill and artificial intelligence will probably be involved in the future of assessing board exams. While educators are able to concentrate on evaluating students in greater depth, artificial intelligence will take over mundane duties.
Ultimately, we will have an improved educational system that works more effectively, accurately, and reliably than ever before. With the continued advancement of technology and improvements to existing systems, we will probably experience increased possibilities for using artificial intelligence as a means of supplementing teaching and learning activities.