Marks go up, up & away: Welcome to the late 90s

NEW DELHI: Board examination marks, like the economy, are suffering a bout of inflation. For the first time, the 90% club at the CBSE Class XII board examinations was 3.5% of the total number of students who appeared for the exams, more than double the proportion just four years ago. In absolute numbers, while around 8,000 students scored 90% or more five years ago, the number has now jumped to 28,000.
As for students with 95% plus, their number has risen almost eight times in just five years, going from 384 in 2008 to 3,000 in 2012. While ninety percenters were just 1.5% of the total number of students in 2008, the figure hovered around 2.5% in 2009 and 2010 and inched up to 2.7% in 2011, before soaring to 3.5% in 2012.