The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Take a relook at TNPCEE'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 21, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Take a relook at TNPCEE'

By K. Ramachandran

CHENNAI, MAY 20. Anna University's decision not to value 22 questions in different subjects of the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examinations (TNPCEE) has triggered a new controversy.

Students and their parents say this decision can affect the career of hundreds of youngsters. One section of students says some of the questions not considered for valuation were indeed right according to the textbook. Another section contends that some wrong questions have still been retained for valuation.

In essence, they clamour for a re-look at this year's TNPCEE. Even a difference of 0.50 mark arising out of such decisions can make or mar a student's chance of getting a medical or engineering seat. "For solving one wrong question, we wasted 10-20 precious minutes. We finally had little time for questions we could have solved easily. In another case, we have answered a question correctly but now the answer key given by the university says it is wrong. We have got penalised for getting an answer right," complains the son of a doctor in Chennai.

Jayendran V. Mani, head of a school in Tirunelveli, says that as per the answer keys, seven out of 90 questions in mathematics have been omitted. Similarly, three out of 60 questions in physics, a phenomenal 10 out of 60 in chemistry and two out of 140 in biology have been omitted for valuation. In all, 22 out of 350 questions (6.28 per cent) have not been valued.

This is an unprecedented situation, affecting the credibility of the examination. In chemistry, one out of 10 questions has been omitted.

"A student who has scored centum in all four subjects in the higher secondary examination is now in a precarious position of missing admission to a medical college by a whisker," he notes.

Omitting wrong questions is not a solution. The time spent by students on such questions in search of a right answer is not compensated for adequately.

"Will Anna University accept or recognise an examination with such incorrect questions, if it is conducted by private colleges," he asked. As an extraordinary case, this year's admission should be based on Plus-Two marks alone," he said.

M.R. Sivakumar, a stroke neurologist from Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, said there were many acts of omission and commission in setting the question paper, as also in the keys. In the Biology paper, question 135 said "highly concentrated mineral in the cerebrospinal fluid" and the key said the answer was magnesium, while in fact the correct answer was "chlorine", which indeed was what his son marked.

"I request you to give the extra mark for his correct answer and subtract the marks from students for whom marks were awarded (for choosing magnesium)," Dr. Sivakumar said in an appeal sent to the Vice-Chancellor, which called for the conduct of a fresh entrance examination.

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