Authorities are making amendments to drive a greater number of students to switch to online mode, says Aakash Chaudhry
Online mode of exam has changed the way students approach exams today. This mode of exams was introduced considering those students who had to travel to nearby towns to take offline exams if the option was not available in their cities. The number of students appearing for online exams has increased especially from two-tier cities and is expected to grow further.
Online exams are increasing their circumference in a well-planned and effective way. This is being practiced in all reputed engineering institutions including the IITs, NITs, IIITs and other centrally-funded technical institutes. Students opting for online exams need to sign in on an assessment programme or web link by entering their username and password. Then they choose the course that will be tested and can start answering the questions that are shown on the screen. After they have finished the exam, the student needs to click submit button that would mark finishing the examination process.
Although this doesn’t appear to be a difficult task, an online examination has its advantages and disadvantages as well. It’s crucial for every student to be well acquainted with the online examination skills and technology. Taking online mock tests before going for the final exam is necessary as it’ll help the student to become well-acquainted with the online system and will give a practical idea of dos and don’ts.
Advantages for choosing the online mode of exam are manifold. Multiple examination date options are available to students for taking the examination. The students are allowed the flexibility of changing mode of examinations, but once they have opted for the dates, it remains fixed. There is a fixed duration for the instruction page to be displayed and this doesn’t form a part of the exam time.
As the exam is based on machines, sudden technical snags are considered and buffers are available. The computers record the lost time which is duly compensated. When you are attempting an online exam, usually you can see on the screen the questions answered, questions unanswered and, questions marked for review. These are in different colour schemes so that you can work quickly as it doesn’t require searching for the unanswered questions for review.
Also, there is no question booklet provided but it is e-mailed to the student after the exam gets over. Rough sheets are also provided. The online exam’s fee is lower than the offline mode. Online mode is a time-saving process and takes a simple click to answer questions. It gives instant feedback to the students and has environmental benefits such as reduced usage of paper. The online mode of exam offers improved accessibility to students with disabilities.
However, it also has a few disadvantages like it takes a little extra time to fill the particulars of the students. The online mode is at present available for Paper I of JEE Main but Paper II is offline as is JEE Advanced. Considering the rage of the online mode of exam, there are now mobile applications available to prepare students for GATE CSE and IT besides online exams for VIT, BITS, Manipal.
Exams like SBI, GATE, and IPS etc are also expected to get online in times to come with increase in its popularity. JEE main aspirant can fill the application online and there is no provision to submit this in offline mode to a centre.
(The writer is director of Aakash Educational Services ltd)