Practical Work, Project and Field Visit: Records That Earn Marks
What this domain tests
The assessed practical skills and the written record: soil sampling, seed testing and treatment, nursery and compost work, and a field-visit or project report with observations and conclusions.
Procedures you should be able to write out
- Soil sampling: take a composite sample from 10–15 spots in a zigzag pattern, from 0–15 cm depth, mix in a clean bucket, quarter it and retain about 500 g. Air-dry in shade; label with field, date and depth.
- Germination test: count 100 seeds, place them on moist filter paper or sand in a petri dish, keep in the dark at room temperature, and count normal seedlings after 7–10 days. Germination % = (seeds germinated ÷ seeds tested) × 100.
- Seed treatment: slurry with carbendazim or Trichoderma at 2 g/kg seed; dry in shade before sowing.
- Compost: alternate layers of dry and green material with dung slurry, keep moist and turn at intervals; vermicompost uses Eisenia foetida in a shaded bed.
- Project report: title, objective, place and date, materials, method, observations table, calculation, conclusion, and teacher's signature.
Worked example
Of 100 seeds sown, 88 produce normal seedlings. Germination = 88%. Reasoning: abnormal and dead seedlings are excluded; counting them to inflate the result is a common error.
Traps that cost marks
Collecting soil from a single spot; forgetting to label samples; running a test without replication; writing vague observations such as 'plants grew well' instead of numbers.