Bangalore students rejoice easy COMEDK
Students were in for a pleasant surprise when they saw the question paper of Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) PGET exam as they were treated to a paper that most described as relatively easy.
“It was not a difficult paper at all. In fact, it was moderately easy to take. There were 180 questions in the examination and 50 to 60 of those questions were repeat questions from previous years,” said Disha Kumar, who came from Lucknow to take the examination. If she clears the examination, she is hoping for a seat in any college as long as it is in and around Bangalore.
Students also voiced their relief that the PGET examination was easier than the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which was held late last year in December. Most students were of the opinion that there ought to be more state-based examinations as opposed to the NEET exam, which also carries negative marking.
Students felt that more examinations meant more chances for them to score well in examinations and secure seats rather than having one central examination where the competition would be higher.
The COMEDK examination was taken by students to get seats into 19 dental colleges and 12 medical colleges in the state. The number of candidates who attended Medical PG Test stood at 12,321 (90.06% attendance). For seats in dental colleges, 4,744 (94.28% applicants) took the test.
63 couldn’t write
While many were satisfied with the state of affairs of the COMEDK examination, for 63 students it was bad news as they were not allowed to take the exam. Out of these 63 students, 30 came from Andhra Pradesh and were delayed in reaching the exam hall because their train was delayed.
“These students have been told to come to the city a day in advance. They took a great risk in taking a train that was supposed to reach at 5.29 am. It reached the city at 10.15 am. Even though they had an endorsement from the station master saying that the train was late, what use is that? We had to turn them around,” said AS Srikanth, chief executive, COMEDK.
The rest of the students who were not allowed to write the examination were prevented because they could not produce the right photo identity cards.
Protesters want NEET validated
Following the uncertainty over the future of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and thousands of students taking the COMEDK PGET exam on Sunday, medicos gathered outside Town Hall in support of the NEET examination.
NEET is a single eligibility examination for the admission of MBBS and BDS courses in India. But it has been under contention as several states have held their own state exams. The protesters gathered to plead for the validation of NEET in the Supreme Court (SC) and the students have also filed a writ petition under the name of Sankalp Medicoz Movement Association, in order to support NEET.
More than 90,000 medical students gave NEET-PG examination last year. The results of that examination was slated to be announced on January 31, 2013, but has been stayed due to an interim order issued by the SC. The group also plead with the SC to allow the announcement of the results. The group argued that a single entrance examination would save students from applying to several institutes at one go and will also ensure the most meritorious students end up with admissions.