Panic hits students on Day 1

For some subjects the paper pattern was new, while in one of them the marks printed were according to annual exams

Panic hits students on Day 1

For some subjects the paper pattern was new, while in one of them the marks printed were according to annual exams

Wednesday was the first day of examination under the semester system, introduced in the Delhi University colleges for the Humanities and Commerce streams. The long-standing issue of implementation of semester mode and last-minute classes produced some panic, as was expected, on Wednesday.

Puzzled: Students come out after the exam at Delhi University's
Motilal Nehru College in New Delhi on Wednesday. PIC/Rajeev Tyagi

The semester exam had a mixed response on the first day, when a few papers had goof-ups, while a few others went fine. Students were visiblyanxious as they approached the examination halls. Humanities papers, including Political Science, History, and Sociology had students in trouble with a different pattern altogether.

At Ramjas College, the Political Science question paper had the wrong weightage of marks and choices printed, which was notified by the university after almost one hour of the exam had passed.

Confusion reigns
"The Political Science paper under the semester mode was supposed to be of 100 marks, but the marks printed on the paper were according to the annual mode. A lot of time was wasted due to confusion. The university notified students about the fault one hour after the paper had started, but they gave the students one hour extra to make up for the lost time," said Prof GS Chilana, Ramjas College.

However, for Maths and Philosophy papers, it was a different story as students claim they had no clue of the pattern on which the papers were based. "The paper had a totally different pattern. I had no clue if I had even studied the topics that were in the question paper," said Jatin Khurana, a Maths (H) student from Hindu College.u00a0

Prof Nandita Narain, department of Mathematics, St Stephens College, said, "Students had actually got no time for self-study and so they were hassled. Both Maths and Philosophy students had their credit paper today. They were pretty unsure of how they will score in this paper."

Prof Kanika Khandelwal, Psychology department of Lady Sri Ram (LSR) College, however, said, "Fortunately, there was no last minute panic in the college. Students seemed fine with their Psychology paper. Nothing problematic was brought to our notice."u00a0Megha, a first-year student from Motilal Nehru College (MNC), said, "I had my English exam today. Though our syllabus was changed just 20 days before the exams, surprisingly the paper was easy and went smooth."