Students express concern over ‘out of syllabus’ questions asked in CET

Narendra Nayak, the chairman of Expert Group of Institutions and Secretary of KUPMA says this is the first time that so many out-of-syllabus questions have been asked. KEA should clarify and respond to the agony of a large number of students aspiring seats through CET

An official of the CET examination centre conducting checks at Canara College in Mangaluru on Thursday, April 18. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Parents and family members waiting outside an examination centre during CET exams at Canara College in Mangaluru on Thursday, April 18. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Students from Mangaluru expressed concern over as many as 10 and 11 out-of-syllabus questions asked in the Biology and Mathematics papers respectively in the Common Entrance Test (CET) held on Thursday, April 18.

Showing the A-2 version of the Biology paper, the students said question numbers 17, 18, and 42 were from the chapter “Strategies for enhancement in food pro production” which has been completely deleted from the pre-university syllabus. Similarly, question numbers 3, 4, 35, and 36 were from “reproduction in organisms” and “environmental issues” chapters, which also have been deleted, they said.

Question numbers 28, 30, and 31 were from “organisms and populations” and “ecosystem” chapters respectively that have been partially deleted from the syllabus.

The students showed the A4 version of the Mathematics paper and said question numbers 8, 9, 10, and 11 were from ‘planes’, which was the deleted part of the 3D Geometry chapter. Question numbers 4 and 6 were from the ‘scalar triple product’ that had been deleted from the chapter on vectors, while question numbers 14 and 15 were from ‘random variables’ that had been deleted from the chapter on probability. Question number 13 from ‘binomial distribution’ has been deleted from the chapter on probability, while question number 47 was from the ‘mean value’ that has been deleted from the chapter on derivatives. Question number 58 was from ‘limit of an infinite sum’ that has been deleted from the chapter on limits, the students said.

“It is disheartening to find so many questions that are out of the syllabus in the two papers. This has added pressure on us for the Physics and Chemistry papers (on Thursday),” said student Adhiti Gatty.

Narendra Nayak, the chairman of Expert Group of Institutions and Secretary of Karnataka Unaided Pre-University College Management Association (KUPMA) said the CET is conducted based on the syllabus prescribed for first and second year Pre-University by the Department of Pre-University Education.

“This is the first time since the start of CET in 1984 that so many out-of-syllabus questions have been asked. The KEA should clarify and respond to the agony of a large number of students aspiring seats through CET,” Mr. Nayak said.