Second-year Intermediate students, especially those who have written EAMCET for admission into engineering colleges, are in a state of flux, at present. In the first instance, they feel that they were let down by the physics question paper both in the Intermediate Board examination and in the EAMCET, and secondly the delay in the announcement of EAMCET ranks has left them in the lurch.
“I have written EAMCET and as well as a couple of other admission tests like GAT (GITAM Admission Test). The GAT results are already declared and the announcement of EAMCET ranks has been postponed till the third week of June. Now, I am in a state of confusion. Should I opt for GITAM University and pay the fees or should I wait till the EAMCET ranks are declared. And subsequently, if I get an admission in a better college through EAMCET, will the fees be refunded,” says G. Srinivas a student who intends to pursue ECE.
Clearing the air, the Director of Kaizen Academy Krishna Kumar says, “there is absolute no confusion on this issue. It is not only GITAM but many of the deemed universities have declared their ranks. Students can attend the counselling sessions of those universities or colleges, pay the fees and take admission. And once the EAMCET ranks are released and they intend to shift to another college, it can be done just by submitting a letter. As per AICTE norms and court rulings, the fee paid will be reimbursed after deducting about Rs. 1,000 to 1,500, as online or printing charges.”
This was confirmed by an official from GITAM University, who informed The Hindu Education Plus that a grace period of 15 days after admission for such instances is provided, and hopefully by that time the EAMCET ranks will be declared.
Nemesis
Coming back to the first instance- the physics paper has been the nemesis for many. More than three lakh students out of about 4.2 lakh students have appeared for the supplementary or betterment examination for the physics paper on May 16. And it is basically due to this that the declaration of the EAMCET ranks is being delayed, for consideration of the 25 per cent weightage marks from the board examination.
The students had a tough outing with the subject, both at the board examination and in EAMCET. While in the board examination they were caught on the wrong foot, in the EAMCET there were mistakes in the paper.
“When it comes to the board's paper there was nothing drastically wrong in it - it was just set a bit differently. The paper would have been a ‘bolt from the blue' for the students who were tuned to the ‘blue print, test papers and question paper bank' sort of preparation. For the students who believed in the age-old practice of reading the textbooks, it would have been a cake walk,” says Krishna Kumar.
Normally, over the years the question papers were being set on the guidelines as published in the blue print. The blue print gives an idea of how many short or essay type questions can be expected from one particular chapter. “This year that format was not followed,” says Ramalingeswara Rao from the Narayana Group of Educational Institutions.
Many academicians feel that following a stereotype format or depending on test papers and question banks will not impart knowledge in its ‘true sense', and this has created the problem for the students.
Apart from board examination, the EAMCET paper had three mistakes, says Ramalingeswara Rao.
“The multiple choice answers for the three questions were not correct and this had a down effect over four to five bits, as in order to get the right answers for the three problematic questions, the students had spent more time on calculations and finally many could not complete the paper on time and had to leave four to five bits,” he adds.
