SPPU exploring option of open-book exams

The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has begun making major changes in the format of the second semester examination which is scheduled to be held soon

The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has begun making major changes in the format of the second semester examination which is scheduled to be held soon. One of the main proposals is to have an ‘open-book exam’ for this semester. The decision will be taken in the SPPU’s board of examination meeting to be held on Saturday.

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The first semester examination is being held in online mode for students from first to last year of all the courses. The exam is conducted of 50 marks with multiple-choice questions (MCQ) method in online mode. The university’s own SPPU Edutech foundation company is conducting this exam. While going forward with the second semester exams, other alternative options to conduct exams are been explored by SPPU.

Despite the use of proctored test method, there are many cheating cases found in the first semester exams. It was found that students were using other electronic gadgets and internet surfing to give answers in the online exams. Many students have got high marks suddenly, so to make the examination more transparent, new alternatives of conducting the exams are being evaluated.

SPPU vice-chancellor Prof Nitin Karmalkar said, “As the new technology is upgraded, we also need to change the ways of examination. The number of students appearing for the online exams has increased and even the passing percentage has increased drastically. Also, we have found that the number of cheating cases has increased during the first semester. So, we are now going to look for some other alternatives for exam like open book exams for the second semester exams. The final decision will be taken in the meeting which will be held on Saturday.”