Despite the Supreme Court’s modified order on entrance exams to medical and dental courses, the undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), scheduled to be held in Karnataka on May 18, is expected to be attended by a large number of students unwilling to take a chance. This even as the court order empowers Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) to announce the results of the Common Entrance Test (CET) for undergraduate professional courses scheduled for May 27.
The UG-NEET is being held separately for Karnataka students as the exam was postponed in the State from May 5 due to the Legislative Assembly elections. This will be just one of the exams students will write.
Latha Eshappa, a student of BGS National Public School, said: “I have written the Common Entrance Test (CET), Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K), Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), Manipal University’s entrance test, and now NEET. Though it will be a great experience to write a national-level exam, it will be stressful because so many are writing it and you feel pressured to perform.”
Some others are seeing the NEET-UG postponement here as an advantage. Harsh Soneji, a student from Delhi Public School, said: “We have [time] to revise the concepts again. I’ve seen the question papers and have an idea of what to expect. I’ve been preparing for a long time so I feel I’ll perform well.”
But for PG students, these are still harrowing times. A frustrated Anushika Babu from RV Dental College said: “The more the delay, more the confusion: I’m still unaware of what direction to go in. Admission and counselling process is definitely affected. I don’t have time to prepare and interact with teachers and peers. It hampers our decision process in terms of the branch we wish to choose as well as the college we wish to join. I want the results declared at the earliest.”
Avinash Shukla from Bangalore Medical College said: “I thought NEET PG would solve all the problems. However, after waiting for five months, the interim decisions don’t help. I’m not sure of my result; I’m not sure if I’ll get a college this year; and I’m not sure if my decision not to appear in other exams was right.”
