Online exams a success for GTU students

Despite facing woes during online exams held for the first time by Gujarat Technological University, final semester students have improved their score by as much as 14% compared to past couple of years

Fear of Covid-19, delayed exams, online tests — one would expect all these to have affected students so badly that they would underperform in exams. Results of Gujarat Technological University’s final semester exams, however, show just the opposite. Call it the impact of MCQ-based exam, lack of negative marking, absence of direct monitoring, or liberal evaluation, online exams have been a definite success for GTU students who have improved their score by as much as 14% in some courses compared to past couple of years.


Take the case of BPharm semester 8 result: 80.16% students passed the Summer 2018 exam. This jumped by almost 14% to a whopping 94.24% when students appeared for Summer 2020 exams held in August.

Similarly, results of diploma engineering semester 6 exams saw a jump of around 10%. Compared to 79.62% students who passed the exam in Summer 2018, 89.51% students passed the Summer 2020 exam. Other courses like M Pharm semester-4 saw an improvement in results from 96.88% in 2018 to 98.10% in 2020, MCA semester 6 from 97.71% in 2019 to 98.71% in 2020 and BE Semester 8 from 91.58% in 2019 to 95% in 2020. Even as results for courses like Architecture, MBA, and MCA are awaited, GTU officials say the improved performance in exams could be due to the MCQbased exam format where students have to tick one answer out of the options given.

“Descriptive answers are never considered scoring. Even if they are wellwritten and cover everything, you do not get full marks. In contrast, if the MCQ answer is right, students get full marks. This seems to be the prima-facie reason for spike in results this time,” said a faculty member with a GTU-affiliated college.

GTU Vice-Chancellor Navin Sheth also credited MCQ-based exam format for the improved result. “Also, the varsity did not keep negative marking for wrong answers. Keeping in mind the current situation and that it was the first time that students were appearing for an online exam, we worked out an easy system,” he said.


Another reason for the improved performance, according to students, was that they had adequate time to read, revise, repeat. “Exams were pushed from May-June to August-September. This meant that students had ample time to revise their material. The online exams were taken from the comfort of their homes which is a less stressful environment.

Also, there was no direct supervision. The varsity may be under the impression that it was a cheatingproof system but students find ways to ‘perform better’ even if they are being watched by cameras,” said a BE student, refusing to be named.

Sheth, however, said that the online system was cheating-proof. “Apart from proctoring, the student’s registered device disabled option of browsing.

The questions were jumbled up to prevent examinees from asking fellow students. The students were also asked to keep their sound on. They were monitored through gadget’s camera by the agency for any suspicious activity,” he said.

Officials also said that final semester students have gone through multiple filters. Nilay Bhuptani, principal of VGEC in Chandkheda, said: “After studying in a stream for four years, students either improve or leave the course. Students who have understood the subject well will get an improved score.”

Mahesh Chhabria, principal of L M Pharmacy College, said, “Relaxed evaluation is to be expected in times of COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from that, MCQ-based format and less tough questions seem to have played a crucial role,” he said.

GTU has close to 60,000 students in terminal semesters. The varsity conducted two rounds of online exams and is set to conduct its third online exam round from September 21. However, only 5,000 students are left to appear in the third phase and so the result trend will not see major change, said GTU officials.