What 100,000 quiz attempt data of Indian students show: inability to apply concepts on real-world problems
A case study based on the performance of CBSE and ICSE students in basic math quizzes
Indian students do well in academics but don’t fare well when it comes to taking math beyond classrooms and applying concepts on real-world problems.
Students in the country managed to perform ‘Simple additions’ involving three and four digits with 95% accuracy, however, scored only 68% while using the same addition skills while solving problems of ‘Calculating total bills’, as per a report by QuizNext, an ed-tech startup from Bengaluru which is maker of QuizNext, a quiz based gamified practice app for CBSE and ICSE students.
QuizNext analyzed student performances in ‘Math Skill Builder’ quizzes which was specially launched during the Indian summer break. The report looked at 120,000 data points ( during April 2019) of over 7,500 students in CBSE and ICSE from 70+ cities.
Struggle with word problems particularly the ones with non- routine wordings
Students in the country solved math problems well and got about 75% of the questions right. However, they seem to struggle with ‘word problems’ without routine keywords, where the accuracy rate on such questions drops down to 63%.

For example, a problem ( given below) based on multiplication and addition had an accuracy rate of just about 53%, while the students are good in addition and multiplications having accuracy rates of about 95%.
There are 3 girls in a bus. All girls have a bag each and in each bag there are 3 cats. How many legs are on the bus, not counting the driver?
The chart below gives an overview of student performance across different math concepts. These concepts are learnt in the fifth grade and were picked as they have wider real-world applications

Good with additions but struggle with decimals
While students seem to do extremely well in ‘Simple Additions’ with the accuracy rate of 95%, they struggle when doing quick additions involving decimal numbers where the accuracy drops down to 75%.

Problems on decimal addition involved simple questions that required adding three numbers with one or two decimal places as shown below.
Find the value of 9.51 + 40.98 + 101.32
Word problems with decimals required students to basic addition, subtraction or multiplications skills questions based on real-world scenarios. A sample question is given below:
Prasad had Rs. 52,520.60 in the savings account of ICICI bank. How much will Prasad have in the account, after making a deposit of Rs. 10,500 and spending Rs. 990.50?
Solving ‘Percentages’ is a cake walk, but struggle while applying the same concept in calculating ‘Discounts’
Indian students solved about 90 % of direct problems on percentages, that included problems such as
- What is 25% of 2000 is _______ ?
- Convert 1/8 into percentages
But the accuracy rates dropped to as low as 62% while applying the same concept while calculating discounts. For instance, only 56% of the times students managed to answer a question like
“ Redbus is offering Rs. 500 cashback on bus bookings of Rs. 2,000 and above. What the effective discount when you make a booking of Rs. 2,500?

Who is winning ( ICSE vs CBSE)?
ICSE students fare better with ‘word problems’ based on real-world scenarios, however, both CBSE and ICSE students compare with each other in terms of overall accuracy.


The state of real-world mathematics
The best-performing state is not the one that grabbed top rank in this year’s CBSE or ICSE Class 10 board exam. CBSE and ICSE students from Punjab fared better compared to students from other states. Maharastra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are other states among the top five states.


Why could this be the issue?
- A high- level sample analysis of Class 9 and 10 questions suggest that only 36% of the questions have the real-world context or situational relevance, thereby limiting students to apply concepts on problems involving real-world scenarios.
- Less than 21% of the problems from Class 9 and 10 had indirect wording or were without keywords that gave hint to the students on what concept has to be applied.
- In academics, words problems are considered as Higher Order Thinking Skills, limiting the exposure of such questions to all students.
User Profiles: The students who took math skill- builder quizzes are QuizNext users who students from CBSE and ICSE curriculum studying in Class 6- 10.
Math- skill builder Quiz: Math skill- builder quizzes are math quizzes based on concepts studied in Class 5 CBSE and ICSE curriculum, that have wider applications in real-world scenarios.
About QuizNext: QuizNext is a quiz based, gamified practice app for CBSE and ICSE students. It uses AI-based remembering algorithms to identify practice intervals for students across subjects, chapters & concepts and then leverage game elements to get suggest chapters and concepts that require practice. It is the only app that helps students to practice math problems based on real-world scenarios but is 100% aligned with CBSE and ICSE curriculum.

