“I just need to pass yaar!”

“Who stole my calculator!”

“I am in urgent need of a night-out”

These are commonly heard lines in IITs in the months of September every year. The time of the year when exam fever takes over and all other buzz comes to a grinding halt. 

Only the first semester exam but they are bad enough to make institutes take on a new avataar. For the first year students, it is the first of the long list of exams awaiting them, for the others, the stress is not entirely new. 

Late August-early September and all activity moves from the play grounds and cafeterias into the hostel rooms, which see students in such huge numbers fo the first time in the year. The need of the hour is to cram up two months of study in a few days – obviously the pace is feverish and the stress levels high. But  there is always caffeine to bring in some energy in a study group. Cramming up last minute is not easy  considering that one single text book can run into a good 1300 pages 

“In IIT parlance, studying for nights together in each others’ hostel rooms is called night-outs. Group study, we have concluded, is the best way to tackle exams,” informs,” Abhijit Gaur, a fourth year student at IIT Roorkee.

Sindura B, a student of second year IIT Bombay adds that their hostel rooms are a sight to watch during exams – pages and pages of cyclostyled sheets tossed around, tea and coffee cups at every nook and corner and students trying to find a  place for themselves amidst the chaos.

 In IIT Madras, like in other IITs,  all kinds of events  take a back seat but what comes to the fore are  quizzes.  Raghavi Kotadi a student from the fourth year there, says that they have quizes which are the exams for these IITians. Apparently, IIT Madras professors conduct these quizzes to get the students into the ‘exam fever’ as the  questions are from the syllabus itself.

IIT Kharagpur has a rather unique way to lighten the atmosphere. A Heart Tree is the stress buster.   Third year student, Samartha B says that  ‘Ambar,’ one of the many groups in the colleges makes full use of the Heart Tree to drive away exam blues.  “There is a tree on the campus  called the Heart Tree because it has a natural cavity in the shape of a heart, in which we drop little cheerful notes or small gifts for exam takers to pick up and feel good.”

Samartha adds that the effort is inspired by The Beatles’ famous song – Love is all you need – “because a little love will goes a long way in lifting the spirits of those taking exams.” Exam takers, are in the habit of going up to the tree and picking up stuff, when stress gets the better of them.

So, in all, exams are not the best days for IIT students but in a way, they help in getting them get closer as well.