Application of TQM to students performance in the examinations[/b]
Vinayak J. Mandarawadkar and Hemant S. Hogade
Everyday, we come across with various talks, discussions, over the issue of performance of the students in their examinations. It may be school, institute or college, we find that parents, management and students are taking lot of interests in the results of the students. Every parent wish that their children should perform well in the exams and bring name and fame to the house.
Management of the institute feel that the students of their colleges should do well and come in merit list. Of course, the students will be wishing all the time, to get better marks and results.
Fine, this is O.K., but what is the fact? Especially in engineering, the results are sometimes the best, sometimes the worst. Why it is so? This is a point to be discussed in detail.
We can go through the following cause and effect diagram.




Explaining Grasping & memorising

Dedication towards Self Practice


POOR RESULT






Poor Laboratories
For practicals Out of Syllabus
More journey time Questions
Friends with Difficulty level
Poor Low level ambitions of questions
Library Pattern of
Exam Paper
EXAMINATION
S
College Environment
CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM
Above cause and effect diagram indicates the causes which are responsible for producing the end effect of poor result. We all know that, the main factors for ‘Poor result’ are
i) Student
ii) Teacher
iii) Examination and
iv) College environment
The result of the examination is mainly depending on the student himself because he/she is the sole player for the examination.
The activities involved in the process of examination are shown in the following process chart.
Operation Process Chart
1. Plan [/b]the studies
2. [/b]Do hard work[/b]
3. Prepare for examination
4. Understand[/b] and memorize the answers
5. Solve number of problems.
6. Write clearly and neatly the answers carefully.
When all above activities are satisfactorily completed, then only the best result is expected. Failing to complete any one activity, the results will not be up to the expectations.
As the foundation[/b] is very important to any structure[/b], the planning[/b] is important for completing any activity, in our case planning of studies for the examination. Many students were questioned about their poor performance in the examination. The answer was mostly shortage of time for studies (preparation). This forced me to analyze the process and putforth few suggestions.
Most of the students stay in different suburbs. They spend 1 to 3 hours in journey, towards college and back. After reaching home by 7 pm, the students use the available time say 4 hours i.e. up to 11 pm without planning[/b] and control[/b].
Considering various factors like journey time, college environment etc, and the following suggestions have been listed to the studies for the examinations. The students are requested to go through the entire article and try to implement the suggestions.
1. Read the syllabus carefully.
2. Identify the difficulty levels of the subjects and list them in the decreasing order, beginning from 5 to 1.
3. Work out the time available for studies during the week days and weekends.
4. Calculate the total no. of hours available for studies during the week days and weekends.
5. Allocate the hours for each subject during the week days and weekends. More hours for difficult subject and less hours for less difficult/ easy subjects.
6. Make a study plan during the week days and weekends.
7. Keep a daily record of actual study done every day.
8. Check the progress made and confidence gained once in week.
9. Modify the plan, if necessary and whenever needed.
Assumptions made for the sample study plan.
i) No. of subjects = 5 (S1,S2,S3,S4,S5)
ii) Level of Difficulty = High (5,4,3,2,1) low
Study Plan 1 (For week days[/b], Mon to Fri)
Day
Time (Evening)
7-7.30
7.30-8
8-8.30
8.30-9
9-9.30
9.30- 10
10.00-10.30
10.30-11.00
Mon
S1
S1
S2
DINNER + TV
S3
S3
S5