FAQ

EXAMINATIONS RELATED


1. What is the procedure to be followed in case of loss of Examination documents like Admit Card, Identity Card, etc?
No student is permitted to appear in the examination without the Admit Card and Identity Card. Please note that, any case of last minute loss of documents i.e. ID Card or Admit Card should be reported to the University immediately. The student is required to file an FIR and forward an affidavit for the loss to the Controller of Examinations (COE). Further, he/she has to take a written permission from COE for appearing in the examination. His/her result will not be published, if he/she appears without the permission of COE and also, until the matter is regularized. Immediately after the examination, he/she shall obtain a new ID card by sending the format available in the website along with a copy of the above documents to the Additional Registrar.



2. What is the procedure if mistake is committed while filling the Re-sitting Application Form?
A student should be careful while he/she fills the application form. Admit Card is issued according to the application form filled by the student. In case, a student has committed any mistake, he/she should immediately bring it to the notice of the Additional Registrar through his/her LC. The university reserves the right to accept or reject such requests.



3. What is the procedure for obtaining Examination Center Transfer?
The request has to reach the University at least 2 months before the university examinations.

Following procedures has to be followed:
Send an application stating that examination center change is required.
Obtain the NOC of the Learning Centre where registered.
Provide the reasons for requesting examination center transfer.
Provide the proof of the reason, if available.
Enclose Demand Draft favoring Sikkim Manipal University, DE, payable at Manipal/Udupi as prescribed in the form.

NOTE: The university reserves the right to accept or reject such requests.



4. What are the consequences of making a mistake in the Answer Sheet (e.g. Roll No. or Subject Code wrongly written)?
A student has to strictly adhere to the rules mentioned in the Question Paper. However, the student shall forward a written request for the mistake committed and the changes required. The results will not be published in all such cases. University is empowered to accept the request or otherwise.



5. What are the Consequences of appearing in the examination without Admit Card?
Student cannot appear in the examination without the Admit Card. If the student has appeared in the examination without the Admit Card, then his/her result will not be published and suitable action will be initiated against the student.



6. Why do two Semester Subjects clash in the Examination Time Table?
The problem basically arises for students who have accumulated too many backlog papers. The examination time table is drawn to enable regular students to appear for the even or odd semesters. However, there may be students who have accumulated backlogs of their previous even and odd semesters. Thus, there could be a case where the paper for even semester from the backlog may clash with another paper of another even semester. Similar could be the case for odd semester papers. There is no provision for appearing in two separate papers in the same session on a particular day.



7. What is clash of Papers? How to avoid?
Unlike other vertical programmes re-registration to the higher semesters in SMU is not linked to clearance of the previous semesters. The structure also provides ample chance to the student to clear the backlog papers. A student gets two consecutive chances to clear a paper except in case of lateral entry.

The grouping of the subjects permits a student to appear in the backlog papers in every alternative semester. For instance a backlog paper of I semester can be taken with II Semester IV Semester and VI semester hence he/she gets 4 chances to appear for a subject. In case of lateral entry cases 3 chances. In every backlog paper a student gets a minimum of two consecutive chances.

The Schedule of the examination is such that the all ODD semester examinations are held together. Similarly, EVEN semester examinations are grouped together. This system enables a student to appear in the papers in respect of two semesters provided the combination of the semester is ODD and EVEN. While filling the re-sitting applications for the back papers, the students should meticulously plan as to which papers they would like to appear when ever there is a clash of papers due to above reason. Please note that the university will issue the admit card for all the backlog papers as requested in the re-sitting application submitted by the student irrespective of the fact as to whether the paper clashes or not. However, the student will be permitted to appear in any one of the paper of his choice. To conclude, it is emphasized that the system provides adequate opportunity to the student to clear the backlog papers.



8. When are the Supplementary examinations?
There are no Supplementary Examinations. The University doesn’t have any provision for supplementary examinations. The examinations are held twice a year for Overseas students as under:

a) Examination for the Spring Session (April to September): Examination will be held in the month of September/October.
b) Examination for the FALL Session (October to March): Examination will be held in the month of March/April.

The exact dates will be published in the website three months prior to the commencement of the examination.



9. What is the passing percentage according to Regulation?
Present Regulation: “A student should secure at least 35% marks in the Continuous Evaluation (21 out of 60) and 35% marks in the Term end examination (49 out of 140) to pass.” Aggregate Total should be 40 % (80 out of 200) and above.

Project Examination: This applies to all the students. A student should secure at least 35% out of 100 marks in the Continuous Evaluation and 35% out of 100 marks in the Term end Examination to pass. Aggregate total should be 40% (80 out of 200) and above.



10. What is meant by Internal Assessment (IA) Marks?
The students are given assignments and are also expected to attend practical classes which need to be completed and submitted to the Learning centre as part of Internal Assessment. The faculty at centre will evaluate these assignments, practical logs and assign marks based on the performance to each individual student.



11. Who does the Evaluation for Internal Assessment?
The faculty at learning centre does the evaluation for Internal Assessment.



12. Who evaluates our university examinations papers?
Sikkim Manipal University evaluates the examination papers.



13. When will the Results be declared?
Results will be declared within 6 weeks after the examination.



14. What are the consequences of skipping of Examinations?
The student is required to clear all the papers of the course with in the prescribed time as mentioned in the prospectus/admission documents at the time of taking admission. The time available to a student to clear the course is double of normal duration.

Example:
(1) A student who joins MCA I semester. The minimum duration required to complete the course is 3 years. The maximum time available to complete the course is 6 years.
(2) A student who takes lateral entry admission to MCA III semester. The minimum duration required to complete the course is 2 years. The maximum time available to complete the course is 4 years.

Case: “A student who has registered for a semester in FALL session 2006 is not in a position to appear for the examination scheduled for that session i.e. Jan 07. Instead, he/she is desirous of appearing in the exam in July 07”.
As per the regulations a student is required to appear for the examination at the end of the session. For instance, a student registered for MCA VI semester in August 06 Session (FALL Session 2006) is required to appear for the examination in January 07. However, in case, if he/she is not in a position to appear in scheduled examination, he/she may appear in the subsequent examination by filling the re-sitting application. He/She will be required to pay the re-sitting examination fee as per the rules prevalent.



15. The number of chances a Student gets to clear the subject?
The structure of SMU programmes is versatile and provides ample opportunity to the students to complete the course without loss of semesters due to backlog papers. Unlike other vertical programmes re-registration to the higher semester is not linked to clearance of the previous semesters. The structure also provides ample chance to the student to clear the backlog papers. A student gets two consecutive chances to clear a paper except in case of lateral entry. As far as the lateral entry is concerned please note that the provision itself is applicable assuming that the student has the domain knowledge of the subject by virtue of his qualification. Hence, the system expects the student to clear the lateral entry paper in first sitting itself.
The grouping of the subject permits a student to appear in the backlog papers in every alternative semester. For instance, a backlog paper of I semester can be taken with II Semester, IV Semester and VI semester hence he gets 4 chances to clear the subject. In case of lateral entry cases 3 chances are available. In every backlog paper a student gets a minimum of two consecutive chances

To conclude, it is emphasized that the system provides adequate opportunity to the student to clear the backlog papers. The scheme of the University doesn’t provide supplementary examination in view of above reasons.



16. Why are the old Question Papers not provided by the university?
Reasons for the non provision of the old Question Papers to Students and Center: providing question papers has a great disadvantage in that it curbs the multi dimensional approach of the learner to the subjects. It is very important to let the learners have a wholesome approach to the subject wherein the learner grasps the subject given in the learning material by understanding the subject rather than by cramming the same by rote. Students are expected to adopt a learning-centric approach to the studies and are advised not to follow ‘guide’ pattern of answering. The strength of our evaluation process and the course is in generating the habit of self-analysis and comprehension by the students. Based on the learning materials and associated subject materials, you are advised to formulate number of questions in the pattern as per the sample questions and build up your notes.
This is the precise reason why our examinations are MCQ based and we do not provide the question papers.

What you need to do is: -

While studying a subject, a student should visualize questions based on MCQ pattern. A Sample MCQ is available in the program guide. This process will enable the understanding of the subjects in question/answer form.

A student should train himself/herself to answer the questions only when he/she has the knowledge. The strength of the MCQ system is that it fully covers almost all aspects of the subjects and enables an assessment of the knowledge of the student on a wholesome basis rather than selective basis. Secondly, because of negative marking system it does not leave scope for chance-taking while answering.
The students are advised to develop the technique to attend MCQ pattern of the questions. Following points are pertinent:-

i) Attend only those questions for which they know the correct answer.
ii) Never take chance in answering questions when they do not know the same.
iii) Remember that, 25% marks are deducted for every wrong answer.
iv) If a question is left unattended, a student will loose marks only for that question.



17. When will we receive the Marks Card?
Once the results are announced a centre-wise result sheet is sent to the Learning centers. Within one month, the individual marks card will also be dispatched to the centre for distribution to the students.



18. What is the procedure for Re-valuation of MCQ Answer Script?
There is no provision for revaluation essentially because the valuation is done by scanning the answer sheet at least twice. The answer sheet is marked by the student by darkening the appropriate circle to indicate the answer for a question. The scanning process which evaluates the student is 100% error free and hence no revaluation.
However, it is appropriate to mention that the analysis of the answers show the following as the main reason for student’s failure/scoring less marks.
Wrong answers get 1/4 th negative marking. In most of the failure cases, the reasons for less mark have been due to this. For instance, while a student gets 40 marks for correct answers, he loses 10 marks for wrong answers to questions worth 40 marks. This results in deduction of 10 marks from his 40 marks. In this case, the student fails primarily because of attempting the questions, for which he does not know the answers. It is therefore very important to be judicious while answering the MCQ papers. Students are advised to answer only those questions, for which they are sure of the answer.
In some cases students make mistakes while darkening the appropriate columns; for instance, while marking an answer for question No.3, answer has been wrongly darkened against the field for question No.4. This happens when due care is not taken to carefully to verify the appropriate column for answering. Students are advised to take due care while marking the answers to questions.
In some cases, the students mark more than one answer by darkening the additional circles. The scanning is programmed to disregard these answers and hence loss of marks.

The students are also advised to write the data in the answer sheet correctly such as Reg. No, Test Booklet No, Subject code, and Center Code. The instructions given in the MCQ answer sheet for these must be strictly complied with.
Please note that no communication regarding revaluation, etc will be entertained in view of the facts explained above.