Hey Readers….!

Today I want to share my NPTEL exam experience.

Let’s start

Introduction to myself and the exam I took :

I am currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree from Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam, Tirupati. I wrote this NPTEL exam when I’m in my fourth semester.

NPTEL stands for National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning – it is an online certification course for free and it is a project of MHRD initiated by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee) along with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2003, to provide quality education to anyone interested in learning from the IITs. The goal was to create web and video courses in all major branches of engineering and physical sciences at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and management courses at the postgraduate level. All courses are completely free to enroll and learn. But if we want certification which shows that we completed the course, we have to pay INR 1000, but this is optional i.e., it completely depends on us whether to write the exam or not. NPTEL provides various courses, among them I took Data Structures and Algorithms using Python.

Exam Pattern :

NPTEL courses are available in 4 weeks, 8weeks, 12weeks also. They provide their courses twice a year.

It consists of Assignments and one online proctored exam. for every week, there will be an assignment, after all the weeks candidate should attempt the online exam. If you select the 8week course they select 6 best assignment scores, or if you select the 12 week course they will select the 8 best assignment scores. Before attempting the online exam, candidates must get the minimum eligibility score from assignments.

The main online proctored exam pattern is as follows :

The exam would contain of total three sections (mostly MCQs) and 25% from assignments and 75% from online exam.

Section I – 2 marks

Section II – 2 marks

Section III – 2.5 marks or 3 marks

Time limit – 3hrs

Preparation Phase :

Firstly I followed the video lectures provided by the NPTEL team, the video lectures are very helpful for me. The professors from IIT’S explained very well. As I have to go to college also, I myself dedicated particular time to prepare for this exam, I dedicated daily 2hrs to prepare for this exam. One thing here is, my seniors told that why you took this course this course is very hard, and I thought like it’s ok, let’s have a try ???? .And I started preparing.

Resources I Used:

To prepare for this exam not only listening to the lessons is enough, we must prepare the previous exams question papers also. I searched for some telegram channels which will post the previous exam questions. I started preparing from youtube also, for every week different topics are there, so we need to be updated with every week. I took the notes while following the lectures which helped me for the last minute revision. And also after completing every week they are providing doubts clarification section, from there we can clarify our doubts.

And also as we know that my exam is Data Structures and Algorithms using Python, so I started attempting some moct tests online on Data Structures and Algorithms. I boosted up myself in python also.

Study strategies I followed:

Actually the course I took is eight weeks course, actually I don’t know the importance of this exam, that’s why I didn’t attempted the first 2 weeks assignments. After that my teachers told that it is very important to pass this exam then only you will get credits, then I realised, so it become very complex for me, because I have to score the best in remaining six weeks. Mostly I practiced the assignment questions thoroughly, which helped me to pass the exam. what I want to tell is, just listen to the lectures, clarify your doubts and make your doubts clear and take notes for whatever you learn. Attempt the assignments properly, then you will get good score in assignments.

Taking mock tests helped me to get clarity on the topics.

My experience on the day of the exam :

My exam is in the morning session, and the exam centre is only 3km from my hostel, as I’m staying in the hostel, Me along with my friend went to the exam centre before 2hrs with aadhar card, college id, 2 pens. Actually after I woke up I was in doubt am I able to pass this exam or not, but at the same time, I felt like I prepared well so I can write it well. With that confidence I went to the exam centre.

After going to the exam centre, as usual some verification process like checking identity (either aadhar card or college id), and they had taken my signature and told my exam seating number. The fun fact here is even though it is 2 hrs completed, the exam was not started due to some technical issues, so we are all in relax mood, all our tensions were gone. Actually exam is 9AM to 12PM, but it is started at 11AM.

In that 2hrs I slept in the examination hall for 1hr (^.^) and I revised the concept in my brain for remaining 1hr. And the exam started and I wrote the exam well.

Mostly the questions came from the assignments, that’s why I was able to pass the exam. I attempted mostly all. And I myself kept 30 min to check my answers whether correct or not, so in that 30mins I checked all and completed my session. The fun fact here is except me all my co students gone from the examination hall for first 1hr itself. Only I present in the examination hall for complete 3 hrs. Because I want to utilise time given to me properly.

Challenges I faced during the exam and how I overcame them:

The one challenge that is the most common thing that some nervousness, and it is most common thing for me, but taking deep breath and sitting in a relaxed position can help me from relieving from this. I got some unseen questions during the exam, but I guessed some question by eliminating the irrelevant options.

Results day:

The results came after 3 weeks. And I passed the exam with 53%. It is not an easy task for me to pass in this exam, but I done with it.

Insights I have for future test-takers :

• Some of the insights that I can give to the future test takers are as follows :
• Complete the assignments on time
• Mostly questions come from assignments, so revise the assignments questions and do the model questions also
• Increase your speed of calculations
• Attend mock tests
• Prepare the notes for each topic
• Clarify your doubts in the doubt session

Finally, write your exam with confidence and prepare assignment questions well, and you can got better score than me.