Evaluation of Theory Courses 

The evaluation in theory courses consists of two parts: (i) continuous evaluation through assignments, and ii) term-end examination. Each course has one assignment. In the final result, the assignment of a course carries 30% weightage white 70% weightage is given for term-end examination. University follows grading system for continuous evaluation as well as term-end examination. It is done on a five-point scale using letter grades, A,B,C,D,E. 

The University has decided to provide numerical marking also in the grade card and award of division for the Certificate Programme. The following is the scheme of awarding divisions: 

I Division - 60% and above 

II Division - 50% to 59.9% 

Pass - 35% to 49.9% 

Unsuccessful - Below 35% 

The notional correlates of the letter grades and percentage of marks are as under: 

Assignments constitute the continuous evaluation. The submission of assignment is compulsory. The marks that you get in your assignments will be counted in your final result. 

You have to complete the assignment within the due dates specified in the assignments booklet. You will not be allowed to appear for the term-end examination for any course if you do not submit the assignment in time for that course. If you appear in term-end examination without submitting the assignments, the result of term-end examination would be liable to be cancelled. 

The main purpose of assignment is to test your comprehension of the learning materials you receive from us and also to help you get through the courses. The evaluators/counsellors after correcting the assignments send them back to you with their comments and marks. The comments guide you in your study and help in improving it. The content provided in the printed course materials should be sufficient for answering the assignments. Please do not worry about the non-availability of extra reading materials for working on the assignments. However, if you have easy access to other books, you may make use of them. The assignments are designed in such a way as to help you concentrate mainly on the printed course materials and exploit your personal experience. 

For each course you have to do one assignment which will be evaluated by the counsellor of your study centre. 

Whenever you receive a set of material and assignments, check them immediately and ask for missing pages, if any, from Material Production and Distribution Division (IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110068). 

The assignment response should be complete in all respects. Before submission you should ensure that you have answered all the questions of the assignment. Incomplete assignment responses may affect your grades adversely. 

You have to submit your assignment response sheets to the Coordinator of the Study Centre assigned to you. After evaluation, assignments will be sent back to you with comments and marks (grade). 

The University/Coordinator of the Study Centre has the right not to entertain or reject the assignments submitted after the due date. You are, therefore, advised to submit the assignments before the due date. 

Do not forget to get back your duly evaluated assignment along with a copy of the assessment sheet containing comments of the evaluator on your performance. This may help you in attempting the term-end examination. 

For your own record, retain a copy of assignment response, which you submit to the Coordinator. If you do not get back your duly evaluated assignment along with a copy of assessment sheet containing comments of evaluator on your assignment within a month after submission, please try to get it personally from your study centre. 

If you do not get pass grade in any assignment, you have to submit it again. To get fresh assignment you should write to Registrar, MPDD, IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi -110068. However, once you get the pass grade in an assignment, you cannot re-submit it for improvement of grade. Assignments are not subject to re-evaluation except for factual errors, if any, committed by the evaluator. The discrepancy noticed by you in the evaluated assignment should be brought to the notice of the Coordinator of the Study Centre, so that the correct score is forwarded by him to the Student Registration and Evaluation Division at Headquarters. Score communicated by the student centre through any mode other than the award list will not be acceptable to the University for taking your score of assignment, on your record. 

In case, you find that the score indicated in the assignment sheet of your Tutor marked assignment has not been correctly reflected or is not entered in your grade card, you are advised to contact the Coordinator of your study centre with a request to forward correct award list to your Regional Centre / SR&E Division at the Headquarters. 

Do not enclose or express doubts for clarification, if any, about study material or assignment along with the assignment. Send your doubts in a separate cover to the Director of the School of Continuing Education at IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi - 110068. Give your complete enrolment number, name, address, title of the Course, and the numbers of the Unit or the assignment, etc. on top your letter. 

1) Write your Enrolment Number, Name, Full Address, Signature and Date on the top hand corner of the first page of your response sheet. 

2) Write the Programme Title, Course Code, Course Title, Assignment Code and Name your Study Centre on the left hand corner of the first page of your response sheet. 

Course Code and Assignment Code may be reproduced from the assignment. The top of the first page of your response sheet should look like this: 

All Tutor Marked Assignments are to be submitted at the study centre assigned to you. 

3) Read the assignments carefully and follow the specific instructions, if any, given on the assignment itself about the subject matter or its presentation. 

4) Go through the study material. Make some points regarding the question and then rearrange those points in a logical order and draw up a rough outline of your answer.’ While answering an essay type question, give adequate attention to introduction and conclusion. The introduction must provide a brief interpretation of the question and how you propose to develop it. The conclusion must summarise your response to the question. Make sure that the answer is logical and coherent, and has clear connections between sentences and paragraphs. The answer should be relevant to the question given in the assignment. Make sure that you have attempted all the main points of the question. Once you are satisfied with your answer, write down the final version neatly and underline the points you wish to emphasize. While solving numericals, use proper format and give working notes wherever necessary. 

5) Use only foolscap size paper for your response and tie all the pages carefully. Avoid using very thin paper. Allow a 4 cm margin on the left and at least 4 lines in between each answer. This may facilitate the evaluator to write useful comments in the margin at appropriate places.

6) Write the responses in your own hand. Do not print or type the answers. Do not copy your answers from the Units/Blocks sent to you by the University. If you copy, you will get zero marks for the respective question. 

7) Do not copy from the response sheets of other students. If copying is noticed, the assignments of such students will be rejected. 

8) Write each assignment separately. All the assignments should not be written in continuity.

9) Write the question number with each answer. 

10) The completed assignment should be sent to the Coordinator of the Study Centre allotted to you. Under any circumstances do not send the tutor marked response sheets to the Student Registration and Evaluation Division at Headquarters for evaluation. 

11) Study centre is the contact point for you. After submitting the assignments at the Study Centre get the acknowledgement from the Coordinator on the prescribed assignment remittance-cumacknowledgement card. 

12) In case you have requested for a change of Study Centre, you should submit your Tutor Marked Assignments only to the original Study Centre until the change of Study Centre is notified by the University. 

13) If you find that there is any factual error in evaluation of your assignments e.g. any portion of assignment response has not been evaluated or total of score recorded on assignment response is incorrect, you should approach the coordinator of your study centre for connection and transmission of correct score to headquarters 

As stated earlier, term-end examination is the major component of the evaluation system of theory courses and it carries 70% weightage in the final result. You must fill and send the term-end examination form within the prescribed dates as mentioned abroad: 

The terminal written examination may comprise: 

— essay-type questions testing analytical and conceptual comprehension. 

— case materials/problem-solving activities/practical questions. 

— short answer questions and objective questions. 

These will give you some idea about the kind of questions you may expect in the term-end examination. However, this is only to orient you towards the kind of questions asked. There could be variations in the format of question papers. 

• There is one term-end examination paper for each Course, i.e., you will have to clear these papers towards completing the Certificate Programme. Each paper is of three hours duration.  

• You may appear for term-end examination of one or more Courses at a time. Please note that normally examinations in the two Courses will be held two times every year - first in June, and the second in December. However, in the first year of admission you can take the examination for any or all Courses only in December of that year and not in June. In the Certificate Programme, the subsequent years of enrolment, you can take the examination in December of that year, till your registration remains valid.  

• In case you fail to get a pass score (35% marks) in the Term-end Examination, you will be eligible to reappear at the next Term-end Examination for that course within the total span of the programme i.e. four years. 

 To be eligible to appear in the Term-end Examination in any course, you are required to fullfil the following conditions. 

1) You should have submitted the assignments for the respective course. 

2) You should have submitted the examination form in time (which is explained later). 

3) Your registration for the programme should be valid. 

4) You should have paid the required examination fee for all the courses, for which you are appearing in the examination. 

Examination date sheets (Schedule which indicates the date and time of examination for each Course) are sent to all the Study Centres approximately 5 months in advance. The same is also notified through IGNOU Newsletter from time to time. Thus, normally, the date sheet for June examinations is sent in the month of January/February and for December examination in the month of July/August. You are advised to see whether there is any clash in the examination dates of the courses you wish to take, i.e. examination of any two courses you wish to take are scheduled on the same day at the same time. If there is any clash, you are advised to choose one of them in that examination and the other course in the next examination (i.e., June or December as the case may be). 

It is an essential pre-requisite for you to submit the Examination Form for taking examination in any course. Copies of the examination forms are available at Study Centres/Regional Centres/ Student Registration and Evaluation Division at Headquarters. Sample of examination form is printed in this Programme Guide. 

Examination fee of Rs. 150/- per course is required to be paid through Bank Draft in favour of IGNOU payable at Delhi. The examination forms are available at all the Study Centres and Regional Centres. Students can also submit on-line examination form as per guidelines through IGNOU website at www.ignou.ac.in. 

Normally, the study centre is the examination centre. However, a student is required to fill the exam centre code in the examination form. For this purpose you are advised to go through the list of study centres available in the Student Handbook and Prospectus/Programme Guide. In case any student wishes to take examination at a particular centre, the code of the chosen centre can be filled up as examination centre code. However, if the examination centre chosen by a student is not activated, the university will allot another examination centre under the same Region. 

To avoid discrepancies in filling up the examination form/hardship in appearing in the term-end examination, students are advised to: 

1) Remain in touch with your Study Centre/Regional Centre/SRE Division for change in schedule of submission of examination form/ fee, if any. 

2) Fill up the examination form for next term-end examination without waiting for the result of the previous term-end examination and also fill up the form for the courses for which result is awaited. 

3) Fill up all the particulars carefully and properly in the examination form to avoid rejection/delay in processing of the form. 

4) Retain proof of mailing/submission of examination form till you receive examination half ticket. 

University issues Examination Hall Ticket to the students at least two weeks before the commencement of Term-end Examination. The same could also be downloaded from the University’s website www.ignou.ac.in. In case any student fails to receive the Examination Hall Ticket within one week before the commencement of the examination, the student can download the hall ticket from the website and approach the exam centre for appearing in the exam. 

In order to facilitate the students who have got offer of admission and/or selected for employment etc. and are required to produce marks-sheet/grade card by a specified given date, they may apply for early processing of their answer scripts and declaration of the results for this purpose. The students are required to apply in the specified format available on the University website with a fee of Rs. 500/- per course.