Karnataka CET on April 19

On December 2 the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) announced the date of the state Common Entrance Test (CET) 2008 sending the students in real tizzy. The CET will be held on a single day this year April 19.

Those who are planning to join medical course are even more worried as their admission to medical colleges depend completely on their CET rankings. For engineering courses, the aggregate of Pre University (PU) Board exams and CET are considered.

According to the schedule announced by the KEA all the three papers of CET 2008 — physics and chemistry (combined paper), maths and biology — have been scheduled on April 19. Besides, CET used to be held in May.

When asked for her comments Nupoor Sharma of National College, Basavanagudi said : “I am appearing for both engineering and medical exams. That means I have to take four tests on a single day. It is going to be confusing for me. It would have been better if CET was conducted on two days.”

A notification regarding the application form, brochures and other details will be put up on the KEA website ( http://www.kea.kar.nic.in ) soon. This is the first time that the entrance examination is being conducted by the newly-formed KEA.

The PU board exams will conclude on March 27. The IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) would be held on April 13, while the AIEEE is on April 27.

Defending their decision the KEA officials argued that last year also the CET was a one-day affair. “Last year only a few weeks were available for preparation. In fact, this time the students have got some more time to prepare. Since the PU exam is being conducted early, it is logical that the CET is also held early. All we wanted was to help the students to prepare better for other exams as well. The entire decision was taken keeping the students’ interest in mind,” the officials said.

The students, however, have decided to protest against the move. Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore — a voluntary organisation, has also joined hands. ACICM Convenor M Lakshmana said, “A public meeting has been called at the Institute of Engineers on December 8 at 4 pm,” he said, adding that representatives from 47 colleges are expected to participate in the public debate.

According to the schedule, all three examinations — Physics and Chemistry (combined paper), Mathematics and Biology — will be conducted on April 19. The Physics and Chemistry examination (combined paper) will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., followed by the Mathematics examination from 2 p.m. to 3.20 p.m. and the Biology examination from 4 p.m. to 5.20 p.m.

The Kannada language tests for gadinadu and horanadu candidates will be held on the following day at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.. As many as 1,99,250 students attended CET 2007, out of which 57,000 and 17,000 students were allotted ranks which made them eligible to appear for counselling for Engineering and Medical seats respectively. Around 2,500 seats were left vacant in engineering colleges. According to the arrangement between government and private colleges, last year 55 per cent of engineering seats was allotted to government colleges.