I PU cut-off marks go through the roof

Sruthy Susan Ullas & Pavan M V TNN 

Bangalore: This 16-year-old thought she’d conquered the world when she notched up 95% in the SSLC exam. But on Monday, she was crestfallen. Her name didn’t figure in the first list of I PU admissions at her first choice of college — she was way below its cut-off percentage of 97.4. 
    It was a day of shock for many like her as cut-off percentages in city colleges soared to a new high this year due to the record SSLC pass percentage and high scores, including distinctions and first classes. But there’s hope because in subsequent lists, the cut-off percentages will definitely be lower. 
    MES Kishore Kendra, which had the PU Science topper this year, had a cut-off of 97.12% for boys and 96.8% for girls for PCMC and 96% and 96.48% for PCMB. In Christ Junior College, the cut-off for boys for PCME was 94.56% and PCMB was 92.96%. For ICSE students, it even went up to 97.29% and 93.71%, since the number of seats reserved for them were few. CBSE students had to score 95% and 93.11% respectively to grab a seat. The cut-offs for girls vary marginally.
    Even a good score of 90% couldn’t fetch a seat in top colleges. Mount Carmel PU College had 91% for PCMB and 93% for PCME. Seshadripuram Composite PU College had put it at 93.44% for PCMC, 92.48% for PCME and 92.16 for PCMB (boys). In Seshadripuram PU College (main) it was 89.44%, 93.1% and 94.08% for PCMB, PCMC and PCME respectively. Jyothi Nivas, it’s 90% and in Shree Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College, it’s 89.8%. Commerce, too, has high cut-off among PU courses 
Bangalore: The rat race to get into PU course and college of choice just got tougher with the cut-off percentage hovering well over 97% in most top city colleges. If making the cut for Science course is tough, Commerce, too, is not easy. It is the second most-sought after course. The last person mentioned in the first list in MES had 93.29% for girls and 90.4% for boys. It was around 92% in Christ and around 91% in Mount Carmel PU College. 
    Arts had a lower range, as usual, with 85% in Jyothi Nivas, 80% in Mt Carmel College, and between 60% and 75% at Christ College. It was up by 5% to 10% for CBSE students. NMKRV PU College had a cut-off around 60%. 
    The high cut-offs triggered frustration among students who thronged campuses to check the merit list. In some colleges, the list had to be taken off the notice-board because of angry students and parents. “Last year, Delhi University declared 100% as the cut-off percentage for degree colleges. The day is not far when it’ll happen in Bangalore too. The rat race is killing this generation,” said Prabhakar KS, a parent at St Joseph’s PU College. A mother at Mount Carmel PU College was in tears because her daughter missed the first list by 0.5%. 
    The cut-off percentages were high this year as the SSLC pass percentage was higher. “If last year, the number of applications sold was 4,000, this year, the number was 5,700,” said Fr Roshan Lobo, principal, St Joseph’s PU College. The highest marks scored by a student had also gone up to 623. 
    The cut-offs will come down in the next two lists as students make their choices. The second list is scheduled for June 9 as per the academic calendar.

HAVE I MADE IT? Students and parents go through the list at St Joseph’s Pre University College on Monday

CET put off to May 21-23 Results On June 6, Hall Tickets Will Be Sent By May 11

Sruthy Susan Ullas TNN 

Bangalore: Throwing the academic schedule of more than 6 lakh students out of gear, the Karnataka government on Tuesday postponed the Common Entrance Test (CET) to May 21, 22 and 23. The test was earlier scheduled to be held on May 3 and 4. The postponement is a ripple effect of PU question paper leaks and the valuators’ strike. 
    The CET results will be published on June 6. Verification of documents at helpline centres will begin on June 13. 
    Admission tickets will be sent on or after May 11. The students can also download their admission tickets from the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) website. The schedules notified in the CET-2012 brochure for seat selection, and other procedures, are unchanged. 
    The academic calendar of the department of pre-university education has gone awry due to unprecedented developments. The question paper leaks delayed the schedule by a week. The situation was aggravated by the PU lecturers going on strike. The department had planned to announce 
the results by April 26 — before the students wrote CET. 
CETBACK FOR STUDENTS 
• With CET dates rejigged to May 21-23, students planning to take several other entrance exams face severe time squeeze 

• Between May 5 and 27, more than half-adozen entrance tests to KLE varsity, Armed Forces Medical College and all-India medical and dental admissions, among others, are scheduled 

• The delayed CET calendar likely to affect the rollout of BA, BSc, BCom academic calendar too TESTING TIMES Finding new CET dates was tough for KEA 
Bangalore: With the national exam calendar packed, the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) had a tough task finding new dates for the Common Entrance Test (CET). 
    The KLE University All-India Entrance Test — 2012 is scheduled for May 5; Armed 
Forces Medical College and ComedK entrance tests are on May 6; All-India Pre-Medical/Dental Entrance Exam and Common Law Entrance Test are on May 13; Banaras Hindu University has it on May 16; Christian Medical College, Vellore, has scheduled it for May 18; Amrita University on May 19; St Johns Medical College and JIPMER entrance tests are on May 27. 
    The KEA also had to counter-check with the CBSE as the AIEEE online window was between May 7 and 26. 
    The postponement of CET was inevitable because the same lecturers are going to be involved in the logistics. Pretest work for CET usually starts by April 23. This includes the despatch of OMR sheets, question papers and hall tickets. There is a series of meetings during this period. The PU lecturers perform different roles and PU colleges become the centre of activity. 
    CET is taken by around 1.5 lakh science students for entry into medical, dental and engineering colleges. This is the first time that seat selection process will take place online. 
    By the time the students sit for CET, they would have already known the results of the other competitive exams like IIT-JEE (May 18). 
    Nithin Kumar K, a student of Jnanodaya PU College who is taking CE, the Comed-K test and AIEEE, says: "Now I go for tuitions focused on CET as it was supposed to be the first and most important exam for me. But now AIEEE will be my first exam. Even when all other exams get over, we cannot relax and have to continue our preparations for CET. We started with intense preparations last March. The tension will go on till August. There is so much confusion. It's so frustrating!” 
    In the meantime, valuation of II PU answerscripts has resumed with more than 90% of the lecturers reporting to work. Some of them, who had gone to their hometowns or had travelled to Bangalore for the protests, are yet to reach the valuation centres.

MUCH AT STAKE: CET is taken by 1.5 lakh science students for entry into medical, dental and engineering colleges in Karnataka

Strike off, PU results in May 2nd week

TNN Bangalore: The PU lecturers’ strike fizzled out on Monday with the valuators getting a tepid response from the government. However, the damage is already done: the department of PU education has confirmed that the results will be declared only in the second week of May. 

    “Valuators’ attendance has been low during the past few days. It 
will take 24 hours to get all of them back to their valuation centres. So we can expect full attendance only on Wednesday. We’ll require a minimum of 10 days for the first phase of valuation to get over and a maximum of 15 days for the valuation of major subjects to be completed. Then another 10 days are required to consolidate and tabulate the results before announcing them,’’ said Rashmi V, PU commissioner. 
    The valuation that happened in the past two days was minimal. Even those few papers that were valuated by lecturers of unaided colleges have to be revalidated as per the procedure. The department, which had promised to declare PU results before the May 3-4 Common Entrance Test, now fears a ripple effect on CET. 
    Soon after a meeting, the lecturers announced their decision to end the strike “merely in the interest of students and parents, and not because we are scared of any action”. 
    But students seemed unconvinced their teachers care. They said there would now be additional pressure on them, and expressed concern over valuation being fair. Will CET be delayed? 
    The department of PU education now fears a ripple effect on the Common Entrance Test (CET) scheduled for May 3 and 4. The department is not discounting the possibility of CET being delayed by the same number of days that the PU results are delayed. This is because it is the same group of lecturers who have to take part in administrative work, like hall ticket distribution for CET. 
    The test, taken by around 1.5 lakh students across Karnataka, holds the key to much sought-after professional courses.

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PU Board Teachers Protest Response from Govt