A testing day for AIEEE students.

HYDERABAD: The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) that was held across 60 centres in the city turned out to be a harrowing experience for thousands of students as it was postponed for nearly three hours following the question paper leak in Uttar Pradesh.

The examination (BE) that was scheduled to be held at 9 am, began only around noon. The AIEEE is held in two parts __ bachelor of engineering and bachelor of architecture. Students writing both the parts had to stay at the examination centres all through the day, from 9 am to 7 pm.

For students who were appearing for the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) entrance examination along with AIEEE had to give the latter a miss as per the CBSE directions. The test will be held for these students on May 8.

Meanwhile, at some centres where both AIEEE and AFMC were scheduled for the day, AFMC exam was deferred for two hours to avoid clash of timing. About 300 students from the city appeared for AFMC exams.

As per the original schedule, AIEEE (BE) was to be held from 9 am to 12 noon and AFMC exam in the afternoon session from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm in the about twenty examination centres in the city.

The out-station students were most affected due to these sudden postponements. “We had booked our return tickets on the same day. Now we have to spend a night in the city,” said B Sarath Kumar, a student from Bangalore. Sarath had come to the city along with nine of his friends to write AIEEE.

Another student whose centre was at Little Flower High School, Secunderabad said she was informed of the reschedule of the examination around 11 am on Sunday. “I have to write other competitive examinations including AIIMS and JIPMER in the coming days. If AIEEE was conducted as per schedule I would have got more time to concentrate on these examinations,” she said.

As per CBSE instructions, students who missed the examination on Sunday will be given a chance on May 8.

AIEEE teachers from the city said that the examination should have been held on the same day. “Now students can challenge CBSE’s decision to conduct separate examination on May 8 in court as it does not ensure fair assessment for all,” said a course coordinator, AIEEE.

Meanwhile, the examination did not throw up many surprises for the students. There were 90 questions carrying 360 marks. While Physics paper was found to be lengthy and difficult, Maths was relatively easy. About 2.5 lakh students from the state appeared for AIEEE.

Source : TOI