It is after six years that the pass percentage has dipped. Students have fared poorly in subjects like mathematics, economics, political science and history.

HS Council president Onkar Sadhan Adhikari said: “The results indicate a certain fear in students about mathematics, history and a few other subjects.”

The number of candidates that scored A+ (above 80 marks) in mathematics have dropped from 19,755 last year to 8,073 this year along with the success rate that has dropped from 91.39 per cent last year to 86.59 per cent this year. In history, the sucess rate for students dropped from 86.68 per cent last year to 84.38 per cent this year.

Experts attribute the slump to the syllabus structure. Interestingly, the Council has revised the syllabus of four Science subjects, but is yet to implement them.

“Like the Science subjects, others would be revised. The syllabus of a number of subjects requires revision,” said Adhikari.

The pass percentage of boys was 82.79 this year compared to last year’s 82.90 per cent. The pass percentage of girls recorded a dip with the figures reading 78.28 per cent this year compared to 81.01 per cent last year.

At 90.26 percent, Kolkata topped the pass percentage chart among districts, with Cooch Behar finding itself at the bottom of the chart with a pass percentage of 65.30.

As many as 5,10,896 students from across 4,200 schools enrolled for the examination this year. Nearly 15,285 candidates did not appear for the examination.

The toppers

* Pallabi Saha 474, Islampur Girls High School (North Dinajpur)

She is keen on studying medicine. Daughter of Ratna Ghosh Saha, a chemistry teacher, and Parameshwar Saha, a physics teacher, Pallabi secured was ranked 351 in the state medical entrance examination.

* Antarip Poddar 467, Bankura Kenduadihi High School (Bankura)

* Joyanta Roy 466, Burdwan Town School

* Sankhadeep Chakraborty 465, Midnapore Collegiate School ( West Midnapore)

* Abhijit Das 465, Nawab Bahadur High School (Murshidabad )

* Subhajit Ghosh 465, Paharhati Golapmani High School( Burdwan)

* Prantik Bhattacharya 463, Kanailal Vidyamandir, Chandanagore (Hooghly)

* Debosruti Ghosh 463, Uttarpara Government Girls High School(Hooghly)

* Uddalak Mondal 462, Jitendralal High School School, Rampurhat (Birbhum)

* Prithijit Chakraborty 461, Birbhum Zilla School

Students can have answersheets re-checked