Controller of Examinations

The Office of the Controller of Examinations is located in the ground floor of the College building. The room is spacious and is air-conditioned, and has a large amount of storage capacity to store papers and other examination material. The room also has an attached store room. There is a separate cabin for the Controller of Examinations.

The staff in the office of the CoE are experienced and dedicated:

#	Name
1	Dr. (Mrs.) C. Sethukarasi, Controller of Examinations
2	Mrs. M. S. Shobana
3	Mrs. S. Revathi
4	Mrs. K. Latha
5	Mrs. J. Deivanai

The Office of the CoE is equipped with the the state-of-the-art technology infrastructure for effective functioning:

Five state-of-the-art computers with LCD monitors that are kept away from access by outsiders to the office of the COE.
A web-based, user-friendly software named 'Adhyaksha', developed in-house by the Department of Computer Science, to manage the examination process from nominal rolls to continuous internal assessment marks entry to result publication and mark sheet printing. The system is secure and foolproof.
A web-based, user-friendly, secure and foolproof software named 'Pariksha', developed by the Department of Computer Science for online testing and evaluation.
Two large laserjet printers with A3 and A4 printing capability, for rapid printing of a large number of copies of question papers, etc.
An exclusive uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system with effective backup capacity.
A centralized double-level data backup system that keeps regular backups of all data, so that any loss due to technical disasters is negligible.

The functioning of the Office of the CoE

The Office of the Controller of Examinations is an autonomous body with well-defined responsibilities and adequate authority to discharge them. The functioning of the Controller of Examinations is totally computerized which helps in time bound conduct of examinations, declaration of results and in making the system transparent and accountable.

The current system of evaluation has been in practice since 1999 (grant of autonomy) with minor changes from time to time. The ratio of central and door evaluation has changed depending the number of scripts.

Some of the reforms made with reference to evaluation are:

Peer evaluation
Single valuation
Moderation in end semester examination
Continuous Internal Assessment (CIA)
Online testing for the papers on GK and those on Analytical Reasoning Levels 1, 2 and 3
Periodic revision of the list of evaluators
Changing the proportion of door and central evaluation of answer scripts from time to time.
Complete computerization of the entire work-flow of nominal roll creation, entry and submission of the various components of Continuous Internal Assessment marks by the various Department faculty themselves and result and mark sheet publication. The software developed by the Department of Computer Science is web-based and provides a user-friendly interface. Workflow and security are maintained by features such as disallowing unauthorized access to marks and debarring any changes to internal assessment after final online submission by the HoDs of the Departments.
There are two supplementary examinations conducted every year, i.e. one every semester. The students take only the regular semester papers in the regular examinations held in October-November and March-April every year. It is only during the supplementary examinations held in December and June every year, that students can appear for missed, arrear or improvement examinations. This has been done so that students can concentrate on doing well in the regular semester papers during the regular examinations, rather than have to handle the extra burden of arrear papers also during that time. This also helps the students of the final year to go for higher studies without losing a year.
Designing and implementation of an effective seating plan to prevent malpractice in examinations.
Combination of alphabet and colour codes on the cover page of every answer book, randomly chosen for the day to eliminate malpractice.
By incorporating the following innovations in mark sheets

printing of marks for every paper and total in words.
photograph of the candidate is printed in the mark sheet.
use of hologram in the mark sheets.
incorporating certain secret features in the printing of mark sheets.

A transparent evaluation process

Photocopies of the answer sheets can be had on request by the students.
Revaluation can be applied for by the students
Students can also appear for improvement examinations in both CIA and End-Semester-Examinations (ESE).
All answer scripts of internal assessment tests and examinations are returned to the students.
Internal assessment is finalized only if accepted and signed for by the students.
Allocation of marks for the answers is made known to the students and the students have the privilege to get clarification if they perceive any anomaly.

The different stages of evaluation are outlined below:

The panel of examiners is appointed
Answer papers are either sent for door valuation or central valuation after allotting dummy numbers for answer sheets of the under-graduate examinations. Central valuation is followed for post-graduate examinations.
Board of Examiners consisting of the external examiner, teacher in charge of the subject and the Head of the Department meet in the Controller’s office. The teacher can review the evaluated answer papers and set right any anomaly at the board meeting. With the approval of all the three members, the Board resolves to pass the result.
The Controller’s office enters the ESE marks passed by the Board of Examiners and using the software, publishes the results. The results are once again checked before publication to the students.
The Controller's office then prints the mark sheets for the semester.

Components of Continuous Internal Assessment

Weightage for continuous assessment is as follows:

Attendance	25%
Assignment	10%
Class participation	10%
Best three out of five 1-hour tests	25%
Two 3-hour examinations	30%

Computerization of the Examination System

The entire examination system, starting from the preparatory phases and conduct of the examinations, right up to the publication of the results and mark sheets is computerized, with effective work-flow management. Seamless transition between the various phases of the examination process has thus been achieved.

All information regarding the conduct of end-of-semester examination, is maintained confidentially in the computers in the Office of the Controller of Examinations as well as in the secure central servers. Databases contain the list of paper-setters, examiners and details regarding the same. Student details and details of faculty handling papers is maintained. Photographs of students are scanned and maintained in conjunction with their register number as the identifying key, for the purposes of printing in the mark sheets. Printing of examination application forms and hall tickets is also done efficiently in the Office of the Controller of Examinations.

Question papers for the Mid-semester and Model Examinations are set by all the Departments on their computer and a record is centrally maintained. The intranet facility that connects all departments on campus and the internet connectivity available to all, enables this process. The state-of-the-art printing and copying facilities in the Office of the Controller of Examinations enables the quick and efficient printing of neat-looking question paper copies for these examinations.

There are two main software packages that aid in the computerized examination process. These are briefly described below.

1) Examinations Software Package – “Adhyaksha”

Adhyaksha is a web-based application developed entirely by the faculty of the Department of Computer Science, to manage the workflow at the Office of the Controller of Examinations. Adhyaksha is a web portal that provides an integrated and secure window of access to information and services to do with student evaluation.

It facilitates easy and effective maintenance of and access to critical information
It maintains repositories of versions of syllabi
It helps to easily generate nominal rolls and to keep track of student results
It makes the recording of Internal Assessment marks easier and consistent
It generates Result Sheets and Mark Sheets after examinations
It seamlessly maintains critical workflow processes

At the beginning of every semester, the HoD of every department sets the nominal rolls for each class through a simple, 3-step process in Adhyaksha. The process consists of only choosing the appropriate subjects - no keying-in needs to be done.

The CIA marks are entered into the software by the faculty of all Departments through the user-friendly interface provided by Adhyaksha. Marks of all internal tests, assignments, examinations and attendance are entered in the templates provided and automatic calculation of all intermediate totals and the final internal assessment marks is done by the system. This can be viewed while keying in itself.

The security of the system is ensured through password authentication, and a subject's internal assessment can be accessed only by the faculty member handling the paper and the Department Head. When all components of internal assessment have thus been entered by the faculty member concerned, the students check it. It is only the HoD of the concerned department who has the rights to submit the CIA to the Controller. When the HoD logs in to the system and clicks the submit button for the CIA for a particular paper, then the CIA for that paper gets submitted to the Controller and no further changes tot he CIA are possible.

It is only after this submission by the HoD that the internal assessment becomes accessible to the Controller, and the Controller's office alone has the online authority to take prints of the final CIA marks using the software itself. These print-outs are then given to students to formally sign against their marks. This copy of the CIA marks are filed for the record by the Controller's office.

End-Semester Examination (ESE) marks are keyed into the system by the Controller's office staff, who alone have access to these marks. Once this is done, the results can be printed neatly using a single click of the Adhyaksha software, for any class by the Controller.

Mark sheet printing can be done in bulk for an entire class or for an individual student by the Controller's office, again through just a few clicks in Adhyaksha. Reprinting of duplicate marksheets is also provided for.

Supplementary Examination Nominal rolls are automatically generated by Adhyaksha - they only have to be checked and submitted online by the HoD with a single click. Improvements in CIA and ESE results are keyed in as described earlier, and results and mark sheet printing proceeds as detailed.

Regular backups of this sensitive and crucial data are maintained by in the central server system and in tape backups.

Computerization thus incredibly speeds up the entire process and minimizes human errors. Also, a comprehensive record of each student’s academic performance is centrally maintained in this way.

2) Online Testing and Evaluation Package - "Pariksha"

Online tests and examinations are held for the Skill-based Subjects, viz. General Knowledge and Analytical Reasoning Levels 1, 2 and 3. These papers are compulsory for all undergraduate students. The software application for this purpose was developed and deployed entirely in-house by the faculty of the Department of Computer Science. Its salient features are:

Multiple question papers for the online examination are generated automatically by the system, by random picking of the required number of questions from a vast database in the central server.
Each batch of students taking the examination is presented with a particular question paper by the system, but no two students in the same batch will see the questions in the same order. These multiple levels of randomization, which cannot be humanly controlled, eliminates the scope for malpractice and bias.
Each student is required to log in to the system with her unique register number and password, and it is only on a successful login that the system will allow her to take the examination.
The answer paper of each student is also stored in the server, and can be made available for checking in case of any grievances expressed by the student.
The student has the flexibility to attempt answering the questions in any order that she wants and to navigate freely back and forth in the question paper.
The system is geared towards effective recovery in case of any malfunctioning of the computer on which the student is taking the examination, for her answers are securely stored in the central server while she is taking the examination.
The results can be procured instantaneously from Pariksha, on the completion of the test.

The uniqueness of this online testing process lies in the fact that the system is highly secure, dependable, paperless, student-friendly and quick, with the results of the examination being available instantaneously.