B.C. high school students will not be getting report cards for this year and provincial exams are being modified to make them easier to mark as teachers begin the second week of their full strike.

Report cards have not been deemed an essential service, so teachers will not be required to complete them.

Provincial exams were declared as essential, with teachers required to invigilate, but not mark, the Grade 10 and 11 provincials.

Invigilate: to watch students taking an examination.

“Based on concerns raised by a number of superintendents related to quality and validity of the marking for Social Studies 11 and English 10, the decision has been taken to alter the sections that students will be responsible for completing related to these two exams,” a letter to superintendents from a deputy education minister says.

The changes mean students will mostly complete only multiple choice answers rather than written sections of these exams, making it easier to mark the exams.

As far as final marks are concerned, the Labour Relations Board ruled Friday that the most recent Grade 10 and 11 marks would be reviewed by the classroom teachers, who must report any changes to the district. In effect, this means that Grade 10 and 11 marks would stand as of the last date that marks were entered into the computer reporting system, unless the teacher adjusts them.

Whether or how those grades will be communicated to parents remains up in the air.