A Test

[Long, low global relevance]

I had my first open-book test today - on a Sunday. It was a DBMS midterm, open book, open time...

As the name suggests, it was truly open book. Our syllabus was 8 research papers, and a little other theory. We could get these papers, any DBMS books, slide print outs, any other papers to the test room, and there was a computer in the test room from which one could access e-copies of all the previously mentioned, as well as free internet access.

When it started at 8:30 am, I was under the impression that it could go on till about 12 or 12:30 pm (thinking it's a long test and Sir wants to give us time to think). From 8:30 to 10 am, we read through the papers: 6 questions, 31 marks (including the one mentioned below) and Sir told us what each of the questions implied (- in this much time, some tests even get over).

By 11, we were asked whether we prefer tea or Slice, and in some time these were got (Appy instead of Slice, since Slice wasn't available). Along with these, Samosa and (pineapple?/chocolate) pastries were served by ~12.

(Walks outside the test room to the washrooms or just to stretch legs were permitted too, and though the initially specified restriction was one person out of the hall at a time, this wasn't strictly followed in the end - in this sort of test, it doesn't matter; after all, what can you discuss during the test which will help you so much -or maybe I've to still chat with some of our toppers here. Of course, we're all trust worthy students and did no such thing.)

The "open time" funda, I realized, kicks in now, and the time was extended by the TAs (Teaching Assistants, the (hopefully) nice chaps who will (hopefully) give me marks - two of our seniors) till 3:30 pm, and there were people asking for more time (can't believe them).

And then, finally people started leaving the hall, and I too gave my paper and got out at around 3:10 pm, though initially my plan was to sit through the 7 hours, just to claim later that I did, because I had anyway stopped writing a very long time ago.

Sir was suggesting we get newspapers to read, and that time, I thought, "ok, what newspapers; I'm going to write a test", but then as the test proceeded, and in the huge fag end (1.5 to 2 hours) of it, I was sitting joblessly, not doing anything, nothing in my brain, having put down something in the fair sheets for the 6 questions already, when newspapers seemed a good idea. Of course, we were allowed to use mobile phones (as calculators), and I even SMS'ed from inside the hall (not to discuss answers, though :) ).

We were asked to think (stare at the ceiling) for 20-25 minutes, and then answer for 5; Sir was very right about those ratios though it seems quite skewed to me when he initially said them; of course, for most part I was just looking around arbitrarily.

Performance Analysis:

Question 6:
The philosophy advocated in Lagey Raho Munna Bhai is:
(a) Goondagiri (b) Gandhigiri (c) Krishnagiri (d) Soniagiri
(1 Mark)

That's the only answer I'm guaranteed to get right. It's (b), by the way. And yes, some student(s) even looked up this answer on the internet, and there was at least one other who got this wrong (He wrote (a)!)

There was another question, which Sir called the "Laddoo" question, meant to be one which could be "done easily" (read: done by me), which was like a question which was a part of the paper our seniors got, which I'm hoping to get right was well. (3 Marks)