Online Examinations - A Pacing Trend

Nowadays, every other competitive examination or entrance test is being conducted online where candidates are required to attempt it using a computer system backed with internet connectivity. The process sounds half easy from what it actually is. There are still millions of students who don't know even the most primitive of computer operations, let alone giving an examination.

Various reasons attributed to conduction of these examinations online are described in the following article. Also, a brief tutorial summary has been given to those students who don't know the correct method to attempt the online test. This in particular will help the candidates who are attempting Birla Institute of Technology and Science Admission Test and Joint Entrance Examination this year.

The major reason behind online conduction is that several incidents have been reported in the past which involved rigging of the examination centers and bribing of invigilators as well as inspection team. Students have been found carrying unfair means in digital and print form, which resulted in better marks. As a consequence, heavy turnout of candidates in the merit list even after applying higher cutoff marks.

Another reason is that conducting an examination in physical method is an expensive and effort consuming task. Printing of question-papers, answer sheets, optical recognition sheets are a troublesome task because it involves heavy expenses. Also, physical mode of examination demands a lot of efforts in secrecy and safekeeping. The chances of leaking of question paper are alarmingly high in physical mode in comparison to online mode.

Physical question papers are distributed to various exam centers and there's a high possibility of leaking of question paper in the transit. Whereas, online question papers are stored and kept centrally under various passwords and secure gateways. So, it is a little tough to crack all the levels of secure logins and eventually, obtain the paper. Another benefit is that the online question paper is far more easier to maintain and doesn't even require unnecessary costs of printing and delivery.

The process of conducting an online examination has another advantage over physical mode i. e. the evaluation of answer sheets and result becomes easier and quicker. All the correct answers are fed into the centralized software which calculates the marks by matching student's responses. In this way, the results are announced in less than a week in comparison to physical mode where the result declaration can take even a month!

All the students who are giving the online examination this year are advised to read the examination pattern thoroughly beforehand. Also, they must try to solve the mock online tests beforehand which will introduce them to the method of attempting questions and giving answers. Usually, the questions are in the form of multiple choice and candidates will have to mark the correct option using the mouse.