Online question bank for MGU PG entrance

Test will be held in centres outside Kottayam too

The questions for the entrance test for admission to postgraduate programmes offered by the departments under the Mahatma Gandhi University in 2019-20 will be generated from an online question bank for the first time.

The university will add another first by holding the test in centres outside Kottayam this time. “Besides Kottayam, the test will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi,” said R. Pragash, member of the Syndicate and convener of its sub-committee on examinations.

Teachers in each department have been requested to drop at least 400 questions in the online question bank as part of preparations ahead of the test, which will be held on May 11 and 12. Mr. Pragash said Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in each region would serve as test centres.

“The test has been scheduled in two sessions each on May 11 and 12 and it will be held between 10 a.m. and 12 noon and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The encrypted question paper will be generated by around 9 a.m. and delivered online to the test centres. All the centres will have facilities to take the adequate number of printouts,” he said.

By generating the questions from an online question bank (the system is already being followed for the undergraduate and postgraduate exams), the varsity authorities hope to scale up the quality of the test and ensure improved transparency.

Teachers trained

The question papers generated from the online bank will be published on the university website after the conduct of the test every year. Teachers in the varsity departments have been provided with training in the use of the online question bank.

“To attract more students from across the country, we have decided to increase the intake by 20% in the merit quota for the 27 postgraduate programmes offered by the 18 varsity departments from the new academic year,” he said.