Hello,

It varies, some people receive it withing a few months of admission, while in other cases they receive few weeks before Term End Exam, so nobody can accurately predict regarding this matter.

However, IGNOU has made things easier for students, now you can access the entire study material through Egyankosh, which is like a digital library of IGNOU, the entire study materials that you are to be received in print form is present in online mode. There's no difference between the two forms, you can access it, I've also provided the link below, you must be aware of Foundation, Elective,Application Oriented Courses, just navigate through it-

http://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/13013