The Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous) in Narendrapur will test aspirants in English Masters through home assignments and viva voce this year.

Science aspirants will have to appear for viva voce in physics and computer science through video call/audio call/ WhatsApp call. For chemistry, graduation marks will be considered.

The college, till last year, selected students based on their entrance test scores and graduation marks.

“This year, we have introduced an alternative mechanism to screen candidates because admission tests cannot be held under the prevailing circumstances,” Swami Sarvalokananda, the secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, said.

The selection procedure for English says “there will be an online home assignment test of two hours carrying 50 marks”.

The test will be held on November 18 and candidates will have to answer two questions of 25 marks each.

The college has worked out the model as it will help teachers get an idea about a candidate’s command over the language, a teacher of the English department said.

The college will send the home assignment to the email id provided by a candidate, the college has said in its admission notification. Candidates will have to mention their name, application number and phone number at the top of the answer script.

The test will start from 11.30am. Once candidates are through with writing the answers, they will have to send the answer script in PDF format to admengndp@gmail.com. The test will be for two hours and candidates will get a buffer of 15 minutes to send the answer scripts.

Candidates will be shortlisted based on marks obtained in BA English Honours (converted to 50) and marks scored in the home assignment test (50).

Shortlisted candidates will have to appear for viva voce of 30 marks. The final selection will be based on a weightage of 130.

For physics and computer science, the viva voce dates will be announced later.

The final selection will be based on marks obtained in BSc Physics Honours (converted to 100) and marks obtained in viva voce (30).

The screening is not based solely on graduation marks because the college is not satisfied with the way the final semesters exams had been held early this month, a teacher of the physics department said.

Students took the final semester exams from home following a UGC directive and there was no invigilation involved. “So, we are unsure whether the results reflect a student’s merit. The viva voce will help us get an idea about that,” the teacher said.

This concern has prompted some departments of Presidency University to factor in Plus II marks during postgraduate admissions.

If Net connectivity problems come in the way of a video call/WhatsApp call for viva voce, the college will screen candidates through marks alone, a teacher of the chemistry department at the Narendrapur institute said.