Students wanting to enrol in Delhi University's much sought after B.A. English (Honours) programme in some colleges, will have to appear for a Common Aptitude Test for English on June 9.
The CATE-2010 information bulletin states that “most teachers of English in colleges have come to believe that a candidate's performance in the Class XII examinations is not necessarily indicative of his/her aptitude for studying literatures in English”.
Though entrance tests were conducted by some colleges for admission to the B.A. English (Honours) course, the university administration felt that too many individual tests put a great deal of pressure on students.
Twelve colleges in DU began using CATE last year. More than 8,000 forms were sold and more than 6,000 students sat for the test. Most of the participating colleges are also believed to have experienced an improved student intake.
Colleges accepting CATE results this year are Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Kamala Nehru College, Maharaja Agarsen College, Ram Lal Anand College (Evening), Satyawati College (Evening), Shivaji College, Shyam Lal College, Swami Shraddhanand College, Zakir Husain College, Zakir Husain College (Evening), Lady Shri Ram College, Miranda House, Bharti College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and Deshbandhu College.
The above mentioned colleges would also function as centres for the sale and receipt of CATE application forms which would be available from May 20 to 31.
Since nearly 10,000 candidates are expected, some colleges which are not accepting CATE would also function as examination centres. There are 23 examination centres in all.
The examination would be conducted on June 9 from 10 a.m. to 11-30 a.m. The results would be declared on the university website on June 19 and the first cut-off list would be declared soon after.
Students wanting to appear for CATE should have a minimum percentage of 60 per cent marks in English (Core, Elective, Functional) in the Class XII Board examination and a minimum of 60 per cent marks in the best four subjects aggregate.
CATE would test a student's aptitude for taking up English Honours as a course of study and aims to evaluate language, grammar and writing skills. The paper would consist of two parts. While the first part would have multiple choice questions, the second part would consist of descriptive type questions.
While students would have to attempt both sections of the paper, only the scripts of those students, who qualify in the first part, would have evaluation of their responses for the second part. There is no negative marking.
The final score would be determined by taking into consideration the best of four subjects' score of the student in the Class XII examinations and the CATE examination on a 30:70 basis.
The participating colleges would make their admissions to the course based on cut-offs points declared by them after the CATE scores are announced.
Students in the categories of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, physically handicapped, foreign students and those seeking admission through the sports or ECA quota do not have to appear for CATE. Such students would be admitted according to relevant university rules.
Colleges not using CATE cannot conduct separate tests to admit students and would have to use Class XII marks as the admission criteria.
