IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) applies a standardised 70/30 weightage to compute final marks for most undergraduate and postgraduate courses:
Final % = (Term-End Exam % × 0.70) + (Assignment % × 0.30)
The 30% assignment component is itself an aggregate of multiple assignments per course (typically 3-5 written assignments per semester), each submitted before the term-end exam and graded by an assigned tutor.
Why this matters: a student who scores 100% on assignments but only 40% on the term-end exam still gets a final mark of (40 × 0.70) + (100 × 0.30) = 58 — comfortably passing. Conversely, ignoring assignments and acing the exam (say 70% exam, 0% assignments) yields just (70 × 0.70) + (0 × 0.30) = 49 — a fail at IGNOU's 50% pass threshold.
A few courses (notably the BCA / MCA programmes) use a 75/25 or 80/20 split — always check the official IGNOU course handbook for the specific course code before assuming 70/30.