Candidates find Combined Pre-Medical Test 2012 easy, expect higher cut-off

LUCKNOW: Candidates who appeared in the Combined Pre-Medical Test 2012 on Sunday morning described the question easier as compared to last year, and predicted a higher cut-off. "I enjoyed writing the paper as everything was from the syllabus," said Yamini Agnihotri who is looking forward to her selection this time. Another candidate Swati Singh, who wrote the paper for the second time, attributed a higher cut-off to an easier physics section."Unlike last year, there were very few numerical questions this time. Such questions are confusing and time taking forcing many students to lose marks," she said. The girls believed that the cut-off marks could be anything around 180.
Agreeing with the girls, students of a popular coaching centre in Hazratganj, said, "Not just physics, even the chemistry section was comparatively easy this time. There were hardly any questions from organic chemistry section," said Ankit Verma. Candidates had little complaints with the stringent measures taken to check entry of fake or proxy candidates inside the examination hall. "We were supposed to report an hour before the exam. There were so many formalities to be completed and student had to pass through many checks. But in the end, we were face to face with the exam which passed off quite well," said Divya Mishra as she came out of the exam hall in Union Public Service Commission's office.
Some of them appreciated availability of cold drinking water inside the exam hall. "I didn't hope for a mineral water bottle inside the exam hall. Normally, people just provide water," said Rohit Sangra, a candidate in BSNV college. Jyoti Pandey however complained about the poor quality of stationery provided. "The pens and pencils were so hard that my hand started aching after a point," she said.
Authorities claimed that exam passed off peacefully and without any confusion or chaos. However, in some places, examinees complained that while the optical mark reader answer sheet had space for five digits, the question papers contained six-digit long serial number. The problem was sorted out by telling the students to drop the first digit out of the six.
Entire proceedings of the exam were videographed, while finger impressions of all candidates were taken. Students were also told to leave a sample of their hand writing besides registering a unique identification mark on their bodies with the authorities at the examination centre.
The exam, which was organised by Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, saw more than 77,000 candidates appearing at 145 centres across 15 cities. In Lucknow, 31 centres were set up to help 18,000 candidates take the test. CPMT-2012 could be the last state medical entrance exam as the state government is gearing up to join the common medical entrance test likely to be launched by medical education directorate of the Union ministry of health and family welfare from 2013 academic session.