Students of Jadavpur University could get to know how they have fared in an examination before their results are out, rendering redundant the customary review in the event of a dispute.

The preview system contemplated by the JU authorities already exists in the IITs, where students are encouraged to raise questions within the classroom about how they have been evaluated.

“Teachers will display the answer scripts in class and seek the students’ opinion on how they have been assessed. If a teacher feels a student’s objections are justified, the answer script will be re-evaluated,” said a member of the six-member examination reforms sub-committee that came up with the plan.

Although the proposal needs to be cleared by the board of examinations and the executive council, university sources said it was unlikely to be vetoed.

The students are thrilled at the prospect of being given the chance to preview their assessment. “This system should have been introduced much earlier. This will also spare us the usual delay in the announcement of a reviewed result,” said Suvom Rath, a third-year civil engineering student.

According to students at JU, the one problem with asking for a review is that it’s a time-consuming process. A reviewed result is supposed to be announced within seven days of an application being submitted but it takes much longer. The delay can stretch from three weeks to a month.

“Students are detained if they don’t clear a particular paper and they invariably ask for a review. Until the results are declared, an applicant is in suspense over whether he or she will need to write a supplementary exam,” said Souvik Mukhopadhyay, a third-year mechanical engineering student.

The primary advantage of a preview system is that a mistake or a misevaluation can be corrected before the results are declared. “It will be great if we can contest how we have been evaluated in front of the teacher concerned in the classroom itself,” said Koushik Baidya, who is doing his MPhil in international relations.

The proposed preview will be a “spot evaluation” in the presence of students. “If the required approval comes through, the model will be introduced in the first semester exam, due in December,” said controller of examinations Satyaki Bhattacharyya.

So if Jadavpur University can, why can’t Calcutta University?

CU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said introducing the model in the state’s largest affiliating university, which has 171 colleges in its fold, was a difficult proposition.

“Since a class teacher evaluates answer scripts in a unitary university, it will be easier for him or her to sit for a preview with the examinees. At CU, answer scripts of students from a particular college are evaluated by examiners from some other institution. We can’t make a teacher visit another institution for a preview, can we?” said Das.

Professor Abhirup Sarkar, who teaches at the Indian Statistical Institute, said a preview wouldn’t be feasible even at the post-graduate level at CU and many other state universities because of the sheer number of students.