'Kya gobar likh rahe ho': DU professor reveals bizarre answers written in exams, students apologise

DU professor questions strange answers written in exam sheets. (Image: phd_wali_ladki/ Instagram)

Exam season is here, bringing with it long hours of revision for students and stacks of answer sheets for teachers to mark. Amid this, a video of a professor from Delhi University has gone viral, drawing attention to the quality of answers being written in university exams.

In the clip shared on Instagram, the assistant professor Shikha Sharma directly appeals to students, expressing concern over what she describes as careless writing in answer sheets. She suggests that teachers feel troubled when responses lack sense or effort.

She says, “Mere DU ke sabhi students se haath jod kar guzarish hai ki yeh atyachaar hum teachers par mat karo. Kya gobar likh rahe ho aap apni answer sheets mein? Itna kharab nahi padhate hain hum teachers aapko.” (I request all students of Delhi University to kindly not treat us teachers so badly. What nonsense are you writing in your answer sheets? We teachers don’t teach you that badly.)

She then addresses the common pressure students feel to write lengthy answers during exams. Making it clear that simply increasing the page count does not guarantee marks, she explains, “Maine maana ki paper mein sheets bharni padti hain, lekin iska matlab yeh nahi hai ki 7–8 pages likhne ke chakkar mein aap usmein kuch bhi likh do.” (I agree that you have to fill the sheets in the exam, but that doesn’t mean you can write anything just to fill 7–8 pages.)

The professor also shares examples of what she claims to have seen while marking papers. Pointing out instances of irrelevant or unclear answers, she further adds, “Koi Krrish ka gaana likh raha hai usmein, koi do shabd likh raha hai bas poore page par, aur jo kuch likh bhi raha hai, woh samajh hi nahi aa raha hai, toh main number kaise doon aapko?” (Some students are writing a song from Krrish, others are just writing a few words across the entire page, and whatever they are writing doesn’t make sense. So how am I supposed to give you marks?)

Towards the end of the video, she offers a clear and practical suggestion. She advises students to focus on writing meaningful answers, even if that means writing fewer pages. She concludes by saying, “Toh meri haath jod kar aapse request hai ki aap do page kam likh lo, lekin woh 4–5 page aise likho ki humein kuch samajh aaye. Sirf sheet bharne se marks nahi milenge. Aap graduation mein ho, please padhna shuru kar do. Kam likho, par sahi likho. Mera mood kharab ho gaya hai.” (So I fold my hands and request you to write fewer pages, but write 4–5 pages in a way that we can actually understand. Just filling the sheets won’t get you marks. You are in graduation, please start studying. Write less, but write correctly. I’m in a bad mood due to this.)

The video was widely shared and quickly received many reactions online. Several viewers said the professor was speaking about a problem that many teachers face during exams. Some teachers also said they often see answer sheets with content that is not relevant to the question, which makes it hard to give marks properly.

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Students also reacted in large numbers. Some took the message lightly and responded with humour. One comment read, “Did you get my answer, ma’am?” Another wrote, “I am so sorry, ma'am, but nobody studies in DU.”

A third user remarked, “Na teachers ka padhaya hua smjh ata hai na students ka likha hua, equal equal.” (Neither what the teachers teach is understood, nor what the students write, everything is equally unclear.)

At the same time, several students appeared to take the message seriously. Comments like “Sorry ma’am, I won’t do all this from the next semester” showed that some students understood the problem and said they would try to do better in the future.