Final year students can pass even with 0 score in online exam

Nagpur: In a big respite for all Nagpur University final year students, aggrieved over continuous flip-flop on examinations issue, most are likely to clear all their subjects even if they scored zero, NU officials said. Only conditions are that they need to score reasonably well in internal assessment and not skip final online examination.
The government has instructed all universities to award 50% marks based on internal performance of a student while the remaining 50% would be awarded through multiple choice questions (MCQs) test. The internal marks are awarded by college and usually given generously.
NU officials said students from all traditional universities would get this benefit this year due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“All universities would convert the internal marks into 50%. In NU, we award 20 marks for internal assessment. If a student scored 14/20 and zero in MCQ test, s/he can still clear the subject with 35% marks as internal marks would be converted into 50. Since examinees just need to click on any one answer out of four, they can will get some marks by clicking randomly also. There would be no negative marking,” the officials claimed.
“The exams are being conducted as a formality to fulfil directives of the Supreme Court’s and University Grants Commission (UGC) that no student should be awarded degree without clearing exams,” they added.
Students should not get totally complacent though. A senior official from Exam Section stated it was far from certain that everyone would score well in internals. “Many colleges, particularly in engineering faculty, fail students in internals, either due to poor attendance or performance. Also, pass percentage is 35 only for general courses like BA, BCom and BSc. For engineering, the passing marks are 40% while they are 45% for pharmacy,” he said.
He admitted that passing exams this year would be a lot easier compared to traditional pen paper exams having weight of 80 marks.
The Maharashtra government had cancelled the final examination citing big spike in coronavirus cases and even decided to award marks to students based on past performance and internal assessment, until SC directives made holding exam necessary.