I got ATKT, I failed what should I do ?

ATKT, CP, Backlog, FAIL, DROP:

In our education system, PASS or FAIL is decided on the basis of marks scored and lower cut-off line. e.g. In University, say  A, if a student, say B, scores more than equal to 40 then he is considered PASS otherwise he is considered FAIL. This cut-off  line 40, may differ from university to university, from system to system. I remember, in 2002, in Alagappa University minimum passing cut-off was 40 for Bachelors and 50 for Masters degree papers. Mostly there are many rules like grace marks or bonus marks or maximum fail papers allowed to keep or carry to move to next semester or year. Some universities call it ATKT (allowed to keep term), some call it CP (Carry Papers), some call it backlog etc. If the fail papers are more, a student is declared as Failed or Dropped and not allowed to move ahead unless he clears his backlogs. Rules may differ system to system and time to time.

Criticism:

Most of our evaluation system is based on written papers. A student may be good in knowledge, he may be good in orals, seminars, presentations, practicals, workshops, projects but still fails because he fails to write the paper theoretically. Our education evaluation system is not complete evaluation of student. There have been improvements in it time to time, but still a  lot is to be done.

Student Suffers:

Sometimes a student gets ATKT or failed because he did not perform well. This is usually accepted by student and he gets prepared to work hard.

Sometimes a student gets ATKT or failed even if he has performed well. It is because of  weakness of system. This becomes hard for student to mentally accept it. But he is forced to accept it. There is no alternative except re-check or re-evaluation, which mostly does not get any positive result.  He suffers a set back. He looses interest in studies. He gets discouraged. He suffers time.

Problem intensifies if number of ATKT or CP or backlog is more than limit and he is declared as FAIL or DROP candidate.

What happens thereafter:

• Some students work hard, clear all backlogs and bounce back. Very Good. Congratulations to such students.

• Some students understand their strength and weakness, constraints and other factors. Accordingly they slowdown their pace. They take more time but slowly clear all backlogs and move ahead. Good.

• Some students loose interest and enthusiasm. They become negative. They get demoralized and depressed. Such students require lot of motivation, positivity, planning. They require a mentor who can push them or guide them to right direction.

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