DU final year exam for UG, PG from July 1; 'open book' mode if COVID-19 situation doesn't improve

New Delhi, May 14: The Delhi University will hold examinations for its final year post graduate and under graduate students from July 1 and in case the situation arising out of the COVID-19 outbreak does not normalise, it will adopt 'Open Book' mode to conduct the test, the varsity said on Thursday.

Under the 'Open-Book' mode of examination, the student will be able to refer books, notes and other study materials to answer the questions. Students will sit in their homes and will download question papers for their respective course from the portal. They will upload the answers in a span of two hours.

In a notification, the varsity said examinations for final year postgraduate and undergraduate students, including exams for students registered with School of Open Learning (SOL) and Non Collegiate Women Education Board (NCWEB) will begin from July 1.

"All these examinations shall be conducted in three sessions in a day including Sundays with a duration of two hours. A detailed date sheet is likely to be notified by the end of this month.

"In case the situation does not appear to be normal in view of COVID-19 and to maintain social distancing, safety and health of the students, the university will adopt alternative mode of examinations i.e. Open Book Examinations (OBE) for final semester/term/year UG and PG students of all programmes and streams along with arrears (ER) of previous semesters/term/year," the notification said.

Students will be allowed to attempt their examinations as per the date sheet and courses as filled in examination form from seating at home or any place as per instructions issued in this regard, the varsity said. The varsity said separate guidelines for examinations of the students of first and second year in case of undergraduate programmes and first year in case of postgraduate programmes, shall be issued.

On Wednesday, the varsity had written to the heads of departments regarding preparation of question paper for the 'open book' mode of examinations. "Since it would be an Open-Book examination, the questions need to be framed in a manner which would test the understanding and analytical skills of the students and there should be no or minimum scope for verbatim copying from books and study material," the letter said.

The three sets of question papers for each course of both UG and PG programmes related to the department should be set and subsequently moderated by the department, the varsity had said.

"The duration of examination would be for two hours. One hour additional would be given for downloading the question paper, scanning the answer sheets, and uploading the answer sheet. The student will have to upload on to the portal, the answer sheet within three hours from start of examination," the varsity said.

The varsity had also said the question papers should have six questions out of which four are to be attempted by the students in two hours. All questions should have equal marks. There should not be parts to any question, it had said in the letter. All the question papers may be uploaded or sent at the earliest but not later than June 3," the varsity said.