Practical Work, Project, Portfolio and Viva Voce
What is assessed
The practical examination combines a practical file or workbook, a project, a portfolio and a viva. Marks come from performing the task correctly, documenting it honestly, and explaining your own work.
Practical file
Each practical should record aim, software or apparatus used, procedure, observation or code, output, and conclusion. Attach dated printouts or clearly labelled screenshots - an unlabelled screenshot earns little credit.
Project structure
A project in this trade typically contains:
- Title page and certificate.
- Introduction and objective.
- Requirement analysis (software, hardware, data needed).
- Design: table structures, page layout, or algorithm and flowchart.
- Implementation: queries, formulas, HTML pages or commented program code.
- Testing: sample input, expected output, actual output.
- Limitations and future scope.
- Bibliography and acknowledgement.
Portfolio
A folder of evidence: best practical outputs, certificates, a dated log of work, and a short reflection on what you learned. It must be your own and verifiable.
Viva
Examiners ask you to justify a choice, not merely define a term. Typical questions: Why is RollNo the primary key? Why FALSE in that VLOOKUP? What happens if you delete the $ sign? Which tag carries the image and why the alt attribute? Show the loop that calculates the total.
Worked example
Examiner: 'Why did you use VLOOKUP with FALSE?' Model answer: 'FALSE forces an exact match on the roll number. With TRUE the function assumes the first column is sorted ascending and returns the nearest lower value, which can pull another student's marks.'
Traps
Copying a project you cannot explain; no test cases; missing screenshots or printouts; inconsistent file naming; claiming features you did not build; being unable to open your own file during the viva.