How to prepare without clarity?

A group of parents from the city have recently written to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) seeking clarity over the common entrance exam approved by the Council for 2018. Parents of engineering aspirants who are set to appear for their Class 12 exams in 2018 are worried as there are few details available about the entrance exam for engineering. 

While the AICTE is yet to come up with a notification regarding the single entrance test proposed to be conducted simultaneously across the country, the Maharashtra state government has meanwhile decided to increase the level of its MHT-CET exam for engineering at par with the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE). However, three months after a Government Regulation (GR) was issued by the Maharashtra government, questions remain over what the pattern of the CET will be like. “The GR only states that the CET would be on the lines of the JEE but there is no clarity about its detailed structure. JEE has negative marking, and has the syllabus of both Classes 11 and 12.

Questions in the JEE are more concept based while those in the state CET are lengthy derivative problems. How can students prepare when there is no clarity?” asked Gauri Chaudhary, a parent of an aspirant, and one of the signatories to the letter. 

Recently, the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) has written to the state seeking clarity over the pattern for the 2018 exam. Parents said that with no word from the government, there is a lot of anxiety amongst students.

“There is still no clarity whether students would have national exam or the state CET. Students have already started preparing for their exams and not having any clarity about the issue is a big hurdle in their preparation. Any change in the existing pattern should have been made two years in advance and not at the last minute,” said another parent. 

Parents said they would take to the streets if a decision is imposed only days before the exam. Meanwhile, officials at the department of higher and technical education said that they have sought clarity from the AICTE regarding the issue.