JOIN USHitting the right notes in sync
With the semester scheme being painfully short, most engineering students hardly ever look through those bulky textbooks prescribed by the university. Photocopied notes, most of the time, offered by the professors at the engineering colleges are purchased in staggering numbers, so much so that ‘xerox’ shops within the college as well as outside keep stocks of copies popular among the student community.
However, it also brings us to the all important question, why photocopied notes in the first place? Why can’t students in professional courses make their own notes, or take down notes the old fashioned school way, if they feel the necessity for them? Metrolife asked the engineering students what the whole hoopla about photocopied notes was and why they couldn’t just directly read from the textbooks for the exams!
Chetan Prabhakar, a final year computer science student from BNMIT, says, “We are alien to textbooks, we hardly ever look at them. Photocopied notes are easier; they are to the point and precise and contain material that is expected in the exams. For someone aiming at marks, these are the best bet. The best part about these notes is that reading them, if not anything ensures 35 marks; so you are really sure of clearing the exams.”
He also added that these notes are available behind BMS College hostel and in PESIT, 15 days prior to the examinations and has students purchasing them either one week or in worst case scenarios, a day before the exam.
They are priced anywhere between Rs 50-150 depending on the subject.Janani Ravindran, a student of Industrial Engineering and Management, from MVIT, agrees with Chetan and says, “A semester is hardly four months long, with inter-collegiate fests and internals. We hardly get any time to study; the only time we actually do study is the study holidays. It is impossible to read 400-page textbooks during study holidays. Xeroxed notes are the condensed version of the entire syllabus and are the only saviours during the final exams.” Raj Shanbhag, a final year mechanical student, from BMSIT, went all festive at the mere mention of photocopied notes. “Xerox notes are the only ones that help us during exams. If Deepavali has crackers selling as hot cakes, then engineering semester exams have xerox notes!,” he says.
Prajwal, a telecom student from RVCE, says, “Xerox notes are unbelievable! Nobody knows where or when they originate! They just mysteriously appear during semester exams.They have exactly what we need, in the format we need!”