1.2 lakh students to take CET tomorrow

[sajiv]

1.2 lakh students to take CET tomorrow

Test will be held at 227 centres across the State

Special exam for Horanadu, Gadinadu students on May 8

BANGALORE: Come Wednesday, and their two-year-long efforts to secure a professional college seat will be put to test. Nearly 1,20,400 students will appear for the Common Entrance Test (CET) being conducted at 227 examination centres across the State.

After two years, the CET has this time reverted to its two-day format, which means that students will write their Biology and Mathematics examinations on May 6 and Physics and Chemistry on May 7. Special examinations for Horanadu and Gadinadu students will be conducted on May 8 on the premises of the Karnataka Examinations Authority.

Last year, students and parents had protested the one-day pattern and demanded that the Government hold the examination over two days to "de-stress" the CET experience. Harish K. Hubli, a medical seat aspirant, says the new format is a huge relief and that the break in between the morning and afternoon session will give him time to do a quick revision.

Students will be vying for around 33,500 seats in 163 engineering colleges, 1,842 seats in medical colleges, 43 dental colleges, and for seats in Ayurveda, Unani and homeopathy colleges. Nervous students, not to mention their equally anxious parents, say that with the recession on, the stakes have just got higher.

Savitha Ananthan, whose daughter is trying for an engineering seat, says: "Reports about tier-II colleges having no placements, and even reputed colleges struggling to find jobs for students, just increase the pressure on students." Her daughter Sagarika says that everybody she knows is aiming at a handful of Bangalore-based colleges, and want to ensure they get a branch of their choice.

Tips
Vallish Herur, project director of BASE, a leading coaching centre, says that students must remember to relax, and focus on the examination without panicking. "On the last day, they can take a test or two to benchmark themselves or understand their strengths and weaknesses. This is only to keep expectations realistic when they are writing the exam, so that they are in control on D-day," he says. Revise formulae, skim through notes and refrain from studying new things at this point of time, he adds.

In the break provided between the morning and afternoon sessions, experts remind students to refrain from comparing with others and mulling over the morning exam.