In engineering too, a Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission (SPC) study has indicated that the quality of question papers requires a large-scale improvement.
Question papers set by the university are mostly focused on the ‘Remember and Understand’ level with a few questions related to ‘Apply or Analyse’ levels, the study — Evaluation of semester-end question papers of state universities in Tamil Nadu — pointed out.
Bannari Amman Institute of Technology (BIT), Sathyamangalam, undertook the evaluation of engineering examinations. For engineering undergraduate degree program, seven subjects including B.E, Civil; B.E. Mechanical; B.E. Electrical and Electronics; B.E. Electronics and Communication; B.E. Computer Science; B.E. Information Technology; and B.E. Biotechnology, were considered and around eight papers were analysed in each of these subjects for the study.
In Civil Engineering, it was observed that the format of the papers did not effectively match the cognitive level in answer choices. Open-ended questions such as “write a short note...” do not adequately measure a student’s understanding and should be avoided. In Electrical and Electronics Engineering papers, evaluators found that some questions seemed to be from unrelated topics and course outcomes. “Some key concepts, such as Dual Converter and TRIACs, appear to be missing from the question papers,” they noted. In Mechanical Engineering papers, it was found that most questions did not provide a way to assess the student’s proficiency in various knowledge domains. Also, part-A questions mostly focus on the ability to recall information.
Similar observations were made in Computer Science papers. Here, phrasing of the question was not easy to understand in many portions, the evaluators noted, and flagged misuse of Bloom’s Taxonomy action verbs in questions. For example, with respect to a question like ‘develop an algorithm’, no new algorithm can be developed as a default algorithm is already available. Such questions had to be reconsidered. It was also observed that one just needed remembering and understanding skills for clearing the paper, and there was nothing interesting for the students to explore.
The SPC has recommended implementation of Outcome Based Education (OBE) should be carried out with proper understanding of its significance. Regular training and upskilling on OBE and Bloom’s Taxonomy should be provided to faculty.
The Commission further highlighted that the quality of question papers in engineering universities in the State required large-scale improvement. “Criteria such as adoption of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy for generating question papers have been recommended repeatedly by regulators. It is, however, not clear whether exam papers adhere to the norms,” it said in the report.
To address this gap, the SPC undertook an evaluation of a sample set of question papers in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering, drawn from a representative set of universities, along with a panel of experts.
