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CUET exam: Far-off exam centres leave candidates troubled
At the CUET exam centre in Mohali, students set to appear for the exam in the slot between 3 pm to 6.45 pm were seen present at the venue before 12:00 noon as they had to come from far away
While the first Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was conducted smoothly on Friday, various students complained of issues regarding the dates and slots allotted to them, even as most students found the exam to be between easy and moderate.
At the CUET exam centre at the Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology in Phase 2, Mohali, students who were set to appear for the exam in the second slot between 3 pm to 6.45 pm were seen present at the venue before 12:00 noon as they had to come from far away to the centre.
Anish Sahani who had to come to Mohali all the way from Yamunanagar in Haryana said, “I had to leave early in the morning and reached Mohali around 12. I had tried applying for a centre close to home but this was the only centre allotted to me.”
Sanket who had come all the way from Dharamshala said that he had reached the city on Thursday night and had stayed with family, adding that he had been allotted the centre even though it was far from his location.
The allotment of slots for the test proved problematic for many students coming from other states, who claimed that they had opted for the afternoon slot, but were given the morning slot. Some students had exams in both slots on Friday itself.
Vaibhav Taneja of Chandigarh said he had appeared for English, political science and sociology in the morning session and had to appear for legal studies in the afternoon. “It does get a bit hectic to give exams in both slots this way but on the other hand I was also glad to get done with two exams on the first day itself,” said Taneja, adding that there were issues with some of the computers that shut down in the middle of their English exam.
Vehicles parked on either side of the road outside the exam centre led to a traffic jam at the conclusion of the morning session at around 12.15 pm. Some vehicles were seen stuck outside the main gate of the college in the absence of traffic police personnel even till 1 pm.
Students find exam easy to moderate
While students said that they were a bit nervous going into the exam on the first day itself, several dubbed it “easy” and “moderate” in terms of difficulty.
Siddharth Nain and Nitish Singla of Chandigarh said that the exam was easy and based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training syllabus. They were able to finish the exam in about half the time and used the remaining for revision.
Priyal Sood of Chandigarh said she found the main exam to be easier than the sample papers and managed to finish it in time. Aarav Sharma of Mahendergarh, Haryana, meanwhile, found the English exam slightly difficult, adding that the questions in the mathematics exam were not straightforward either.
Conducted by the National Testing Agency, the exam’s schedule will extend till August 20. It is being conducted for admission into all under graduate programmes in all Central universities for academic session 2022-23 under the Ministry of Education, (MoE). The test will provide a common platform to candidates across the country, especially those from rural and remote areas.
With no central universities in the tricity, students giving the exam will be aiming to secure spots in varsities like Delhi University among others.
