Identical question paper: MU’s board of studies to probe

Two days after the students of Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) complained that the papers for Statistics and Probability examination, held on December 11,

Two days after the students of Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) complained that the papers for Statistics and Probability examination, held on December 11, was similar to the one in May 2018, the examination department of the University of Mumbai (MU) handed over the inquiry into the matter to the board of studies.

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“Both the question papers were put together by the university and the fact that the papers are almost identical shows how careless the paper setters have become over years. The varsity needs to pay better attention at the time of hiring paper setters to avoid such faux pas,” said senate member Vaibhav Narawde.

He added, “Only one question looks different while the rest of the paper is similar to the previous one. Such mistakes show the laziness of paper setters, and the fact that punishment meted out to them by the university is not enough.”

This is the second incident this examination season where question papers were found to be identical to those in earlier tests. In November 2019, third-semester mechanical engineering students found their Material Technology paper was identical to the preliminary examination paper of an affiliated college, which took place less than a month before. MU has suspended the exam committee chairman of the subject and cut two salary increments of the co-paper setter involved.