Covid crisis forces at least 4 IITs to ditch final year exams

NEW DELHI: At least four Indian Institutes of Technology have decided to not hold final year exams in view of the coronavirus spread with cases rising across the country. Other institutes have offered candidates options like early graduation and flexible grading while some have devised new grading patterns or are exploring the open book exam option.
The ones which are not taking an exam include IITs at Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai and Roorkee. IIT-Delhi plans to offer two options to the class of 2020 — early or regular graduation. Those opting for early graduation can choose between a ‘pass/fail’ option or a ‘credit’ option (which involves grading). For the regular ‘credit’ option, students will take online tests, home exams, assignments and viva tests on phone. IIT-Delhi director V Ramgopal Rao said “All early graduation requirements will be through an online process. If a student can’t complete graduation requirements by June-end with these options, they will have a fall-back option to graduate when the semester reconvenes.”
As a one-time exception, all IIT-Kanpur students will get grades for courses based on mid semester exam/quizzes/assignments/projects. In the special grading scheme adopted for this extraordinary situation, only A, B, C and S grades will be awarded and no student will fail. Non-graduating students have the option to appear in a re-examination to improve grades.
Students of IIT-Bombay will be graded based on the evaluation of mid-semester examination. Instructors can additionally evaluate candidates using a suitable online mode for maximum weightage of 20%, provided all registered students can avail it.
The IIT-Kharagpur senate on May 27 decided to grade students on the basis of mid-semester exam, assignments, viva etc. A committee has been formed which will decide the grading scheme, supplementary examination.
IIT-Roorkee will award letter grades with grade points for the Spring semester 2019-20. Students are offered a flexible option to convert the grade as final or re-appear in an exam later. As per the plan, a student who obtains a pass letter grade (D and above) in a course will have the option to get it converted into a satisfactory (S) grade with no grade point which will be treated as final or appear in a re-examination later.
IIT-Guwahati has opted for open-book examination and may even allow students 24 hours for online submission in case of difficulties. The institute said it will give sufficient options to students for completion of online assessment and exams. Stating that it has completed all its courses online and is prioritising the final year students as they have to graduate before the joining date of their jobs, IIT-Madras has kept its option open till the governments allow the institutions to open. It is evaluating them through online mode or telephonic viva examination.