Anxiety and a sense of relief was evident as thousands of students came out of the examination halls on Sunday after appearing for the Post-Graduate Entrance Test (PGET), conducted by the Consortium Of Medical, Engineering and Dental colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K), for admission to private colleges in the State.
Security
A total of 16,593 students wrote the examination for both medical and dental courses, which was held between 2.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. in 27 centres in the city. Tight security was in place, with private guards and policemen posted at the centres.
All students were scanned using metal detectors, a precaution against malpractices using electronic devices.
No hitches
The security seemed to have worked, with S. Kumar, Executive Secretary, COMED-K announcing in a press release that no cases of malpractice were reported at the centres.
While the examination itself did proceed without a hitch, there was confusion at several centres about the valid photo identification cards needed to enter the hall. According to COMED-K officials, around 60 people were not allowed in after they could not furnish valid photo identity cards.
Though three hours were allotted for the paper, many students completed answering the 180 questions before time.
“Most of them were objective type questions, and could be done in an instant, while around 30 questions were case studies, which took some time.
“For me, two-and-a-half hours were enough,” said Amit Garg, from SDM dental college in Dharwad, who wrote the Dental PGET examination at the M.S. Ramaiah College of Arts, Sciences and Commerce in Mathikere.
Tough questions
However, dental student Kavan Shah, who travelled from Ahmedabad hoping to get admission into an oral surgery course in a college here, said that with a lot of questions out of the syllabus, the examination was far tougher than he expected it to be.
Sagar S, a medical student from Gulbarga, said the test was “routine”.
Pattern
“It was just as expected, with the pattern remaining the same as previous papers. Though the paper was a little difficult, with no negative marking, the results could swing any way,” he said.
Even though most displayed an obvious sense of relief – some even having written the entrance test for the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry, held in the morning – students said their anxieties would peak again after the answer key would be posted online at 8 p.m. on the COMED-K website.
GATE exam held
Meanwhile, the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for admission into postgraduate courses in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology was held on Sunday.
Around 30,000 students wrote the examination in about 21 locations in the city.
Overall, over 12 lakh students took the examination across the country for admission to PG programmes in engineering, technology, architecture and pharmacy.
GATE 2012 consisted of 65 Multiple-Choice Questions with a maximum score of 100 marks.
The paper tested applicants on Engineering Mathematics, General aptitude (Verbal Ability & Numerical Ability) and their core engineering Subjects.
