Entrance merger tests the waters

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Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal’s attempt to merge the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) to take the burden off students has met with mixed reactions in the capital.
AIPMT and AIEEE, which are both conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, will be combined so that students don’t have to sit for multiple entrance exams. Sibal was reported saying, “This is being done to reduce the multiplicity of entry to higher education institutions and to save students from sitting for two separate exams.”
Sibal said the Ministry would hold wider consultations in the coming year, and if approved, the final modalities would be worked out to initiate the common entrance test from the next academic year.
Chemical engineer Aditi Sinha regrets that she took a break for a year to prepare well for AIEEE. “I have suffered from the burden to do well in these entrances. One works hard, but there is no success guaranteed. However, I’m not very sure if it is a wise idea to merge these two entrance exams. Students end up giving more than 10 entrance exams, reducing it to one would mean they would have to be satisfied with one attempt only. Will it help? What if it wasn’t their one best attempt,” she questions.
Vidula Bansal, 18, who dropped a year to prepare for AIPMT says, “We students are really stressed out giving so many entrances and preparing for them too. Many of them have different patterns. It’s nice to have a common exam for all colleges. There’s one drawback: if someone is not able to perform in this one single exam, then it is over. A student would still need to take coaching. If the HRD ministry wants coaching institutes’ role to be reduced, their syllabus should be revised.”
Vidula says she hasn’t got a good rank and may now try for a private medical college. Not disappointed, she says, “I knew AIPMT is very tough, besides hard work, luck matters a lot. Sibal said that ‘for entrance to professional institutions, the criteria would be based on both Class 12 marks and the marks of common entrance test put together’, it would make it even more difficult for students as they start preparing for AIPMT and AIEEE when they are in Class 11 and don’t focus much on Board exams. Students then just study for coaching institutes and if Board marks will also be considered then we will have to focus on it as well.”
Pharmacy student Akshay Arora avers, “AIEEE and AIPMT are regarded as even bigger then Boards. Students do not attend regular classes in school and prepare for these exams. My pharmacy batchmates say they are medical losers. Some dropped a year or two to prepare for AIPMT and AIEEE, but couldn’t clear it. This move by the HRD ministry will be helpful for students. It will help reduce pressure they face.”